Nicotiana tabacum (Tobacco)

Native to Bolivia, this annual or short-lived perennial herb has stems and leaves covered with sticky glandular hairs, and its branched flowering clusters carry long, funnel-shaped flowers, usually with pale tubes and pink lobes. Each dry seed capsule splits into two parts and can contain two thousand to five thousand tiny seeds.

The species arose through hybridization between ancestors of Nicotiana sylvestris and Nicotiana tomentosiformis, retaining two sets of chromosomes from each parent. It is cultivated worldwide for its nicotine-rich leaves, which are dried and processed into cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products. Nicotine has also been extracted for use in insecticides. Nicotine is poisonous and can be absorbed through the skin when handling wet leaves. Photographed in the central Andes mountain range of Colombia.