Nicotiana sylvestris (flowering tobacco)

Japanese name: ニコチアナ シルベストリス
Scientific name: Nicotiana sylvestris

[Overview]
A biennial or short-lived perennial 0.9–1.5 m tall.
In Japan it is grown as a spring-sown annual or an autumn-sown biennial.
The leaves are simple and alternate, broadly elliptic, sometimes nearly 40 cm long, thin, slightly sticky and stalkless, with the leaf base slightly clasping the stem.
The leaf margin is entire.
A raceme at the tip of the erect flower stalk bears many flowers that hang down.
The flowers are white and salverform, with a tube 7 cm or more long; the tip of the corolla is star-shaped, 5-lobed, and about 2 cm across.
The flowers are fragrant, especially strongly at night.
The fruit is a capsule.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed; it also spreads readily from self-sown seed.
Sow or plant after frost no longer occurs.
The seeds need light to germinate, so sow them in seed-starting soil without covering them with soil, and water from the bottom so the soil does not dry out.
For autumn sowing, protect from frost.
It prefers sunny, well-drained, well-ventilated, fertile soil.
Take care that it does not run short of water; for potted plants, water thoroughly when the soil surface dries, and for plants in the ground, rainfall is sufficient.
Place slow-release fertilizer on the soil during the growing season.
Pests and diseases include tobacco mosaic virus, aphids and cotton bollworm.

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