Tobacco, Huichol aka Langsdorff's (Nicotiana langsdorffii)

Huichol Tobacco comes to us from the warm regions of South America, where it is native to Brazil and traditionally used in ceremonial rituals. Fast-growing and small of leaf, this intriguing annual has slender stems and lime-green flowers that are tubular and bell-shaped. While you can find it growing wild in the deserts of the southwest, Langsdorff Tobacco is widely cultivated as an ornamental. It thrives in sun and heat, like all of its genus, but tends to relish in part shade where it displays its beauty best. Its unusual flower shape and soft coloration lend a luminous quality to garden beds and pollinator plantings, where its nectar rich blooms draw hummingbirds and butterflies and support night-flying insects with its subtle perfume.

Although related to cultivated tobacco, Nicotiana langsdorffii is primarily grown today for its decorative value and ecological contributions, not for smoking or commercial use. It adds a graceful vertical presence to the garden where it is appreciated for its resilience, fast growth, and ability to bloom continuously through the warm season, creating a gentle, lambent backdrop for other flowering plants.