Species
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Nicotiana tabacum L.

American tobacco, Buchici, Cultivated tobacco, Lobaka

Climate known 11 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Nicotiana tabacum, or cultivated tobacco, is an annually grown herbaceous plant of the genus Nicotiana. N. tabacum is the most commonly grown species in the genus Nicotiana, as the plant's leaves are commercially harvested to be processed into tobacco for human use. The plant is native to Bolivia, commonly grown throughout the world and often found in cultivation. It grows to heights between 1 and 2 metres. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Nicotiana tabacum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Nicotiana

Nicotiana is a genus of herbaceous plants and shrubs in the family Solanaceae that is indigenous to the Americas, Australia, Southwestern Africa and the South Pacific. Various Nicotiana species, commonly referred to as tobacco plants, are cultivated by humans.

Text from Wikipedia, “Nicotiana”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Solanaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Bolivia
Wild records
12 in range· 10 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Oct, mean day; nights 20 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1756mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jan 275 mm (CHELSA)
Light
24–35DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, October to March at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (3.8 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 1756 mm a year, wettest January at 275 mm, driest July at 39 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 35 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 8.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Nicotiana alba Mill.; Nicotiana alipes Steud.; Nicotiana angustifolia Ehrh.; Nicotiana angustifolia Mill.; Nicotiana attenuata Steud. and 45 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, October to March at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (3.8 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (1282 mm of 1756 mm) falls in October to March. The temperature curve is flat, 3.8 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; with a flat temperature curve there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1756 mm a year, wettest January at 275 mm, driest July at 39 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1756 mm a year at the habitat, 1282 mm of it October to March. Wettest month January at 275 mm, driest July at 39 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1188 mm to 2476 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 35 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 35 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 38).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 8.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 8.9 °C, the absolute minimum 2.1 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 41.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 16.5 °C in July (across the envelope cells 7.0 °C to 18.8 °C), warmest day 27.8 °C in October (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 8.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 61 to 69% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 25 °C in Jun to 28 °C in Oct; mean night from 17 °C in Jul to 21 °C in Jan. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 1756 mm of rain a year, most in Jan. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 10 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 2.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 41.1 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°20°30°40°50°41.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)2.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 24–35RH 61–69 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 10 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C28 / 18–3027 / 18–3028 / 18–3027 / 17–2926 / 16–2825 / 16–2725 / 15–2727 / 16–3028 / 17–3128 / 18–3128 / 18–3028 / 18–30
Night °C21 / 11–2321 / 11–2321 / 10–2320 / 10–2218 / 8–2117 / 7–2017 / 7–1918 / 8–2019 / 8–2120 / 9–2321 / 10–2321 / 11–23
Rain mm275 / 178–385238 / 165–379214 / 155–287135 / 87–197104 / 55–11756 / 32–7739 / 24–7550 / 38–8790 / 61–114150 / 100–211171 / 131–252234 / 168–354
DLI32 / 30–3731 / 29–3630 / 29–3529 / 28–3125 / 24–2624 / 23–2526 / 23–2831 / 27–3233 / 30–3535 / 33–3734 / 31–3832 / 31–38
RH %69 / 65–7168 / 65–7168 / 65–7166 / 63–6966 / 60–6965 / 59–6962 / 59–6861 / 57–6663 / 58–6664 / 61–6866 / 63–7068 / 64–70

Each figure is the median across the 10 grid cells holding the 12 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2150:2370 (-17.525, -61.475). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 2.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 8.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 41.1 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 10 distinct grid cells holding the 12 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2150:2370 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -17.50_-61.250, lapse-corrected +6 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 287 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBolivia· introduced: Denmark, Great Britain, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Switzerland, Corse, France, Portugal, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Romania, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia, Krym, Central European Russia, South European Russia, Ukraine, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Azores, Canary Is., Cape Verde, Madeira, Selvagens, Benin, Burkina, Gambia, The, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Rwanda, Zaïre, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Socotra, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Cape Provinces, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Provinces, Ascension, St.Helena, Aldabra, Comoros, Mauritius, Madagascar, Réunion, Rodrigues, Seychelles, Primorye, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, Cyprus, Turkey, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Korea, Kazan-retto, Ogasawara-shoto, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Jawa, Philippines, Christmas I., Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Solomon Is., Norfolk Is., New Zealand North, Fiji, Gilbert Is., Niue, New Caledonia, Samoa, Vanuatu, Cook Is., Easter Is., Line Is., Marquesas, Pitcairn Is., Society Is., Caroline Is., Marcus I., Marianas, Marshall Is., Wake I., Hawaii, Ontario, Missouri, Michigan, New York, West Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Mexico Central, Mexico Southwest, Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Aruba, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is., Venezuela, Colombia, Galápagos, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South, Argentina Northwest, Juan Fernández Is., Paraguay
Kew's description“annual or perennial” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-14.76, -68.726 · in the densest population, 11 records (92% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 12 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 10 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 26 km away. 1601 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 12 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Nicotiana tabacumNicotiana tabacumNicotiana tabacumNicotiana tabacumNicotiana tabacumNicotiana tabacumNicotiana tabacumNicotiana tabacum

Photographs: Lisa Bennett, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (2); thiago massara, CC BY-SA, via GBIF; Marie-Hélène BAZIN, CC BY-SA, via GBIF; nasua, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (4).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Nicotiana tabacum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Lignin Biosynthesis and Structure
Ruben Vanholme, Brecht Demedts, Kris Morreel, John Ralph (2010) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
The Role of WRKY Transcription Factors in Plant Immunity
Shree P. Pandey, Imre E. Somssich (2009) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Transcriptional Regulatory Networks in Response to Abiotic Stresses in Arabidopsis and Grasses
Kazuo Nakashima, Yusuke Ito, Kazuko Yamaguchi‐Shinozaki (2009) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
The Combined Effect of Drought Stress and Heat Shock on Gene Expression in Tobacco
Ludmila Rizhsky, Hongjian Liang, Ron Mittler (2002) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
The Arabidopsis CDPK-SnRK Superfamily of Protein Kinases
Estelle M. Hrabak, Catherine W. M. Chan, Michael Gribskov, Jeffrey F. Harper (2003) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Reactive Oxygen Species in Plant Cell Death
Frank Van Breusegem, James F. Dat (2006) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Nicotiana 3 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 196 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.