Nicotiana tomentosiformis

Native from southern Peru to western Bolivia, this woody tobacco species grows in wet tropical habitats. It has a tree-like growth form and bears tubular flowers that open into five spreading lobes. It belongs to the nightshade family, Solanaceae. Ancestors of this species contributed one of the two parental chromosome sets that gave rise to cultivated tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum. Photographed in Peru.