General: Desert Tobacco (Nicotiana obtusifolia) is an upright herbaceous shrub with relatively large leaves for a desert plant (to 4 inches), upper cauline leaves sessile, somewhat clasping. Flowers are white and tubular, and they produce urn-shaped capsules. The flowers are about 1-inch long (shorter than other species) and open during the day (others close during the day). The entire plant is sticky glandular.

Compare with Coyote Tobacco (Nicotiana attenuata), which is taller, has longer flowers (that close during the day), and has narrower upper leaves that are petioled (do not clasp the stem). This plant is only slightly sticky.

Desert Tobacco is an uncommon component of vegetation communities on well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils on upper bajadas and moderate slopes in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zone.

Family: Nightshade (Solanaceae).

Other Names: Nicotiana trigonophylla.

Plant Form: Upright herbaceous shrub growing from a woody base with fairly large leaves for a desert plant.

Height: 2-3 feet tall (not a tall shrub or tree).

Stems: Upright

Leaves: Fairly large for a desert plant (to 4 inches long), oval; lower leaves with short petiole; upper leaves sessile, narrower, clasping, pointed. Sticky glandular.

Flowers: Generally blooms late spring and early summer, but flowers during early spring and fall if conditions permit. Inflorescence: several flowers near the stem tips. Flower: white, tubular, about 1-inch long, open during the day. Sticky glandular.

Seeds: Fruit: urn-shaped capsule, 1/3 inch long, containing many small seeds.

Habitat: Dry, well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils on upper bajadas and moderate slopes in the lower mountains.

Elevation: To about 5,000 feet.

Distribution: California to Utah and Texas, south in to Mexico.

Comments: This plant is dried and smoked by native peoples, but I do not know the amount nor any affects.