Nicotiana obtusifolia ( ) ( )

Nicotiana trigonophylla

Solanaceae

• Perennial or facultatively annual herb, with whitish tubular corolla. Widespread and common, it usually grows among rocks on north-facing slopes and along arroyos. Found on the mainland and Tiburon and San Esteban islands; also common on Alcatraz Island in Kino Bay. Smoking: although the leaves of any plant of this species might have been smoked, certain populations with superior smoking qualities were well known. The men made special trips to harvest this tobacco and brought it back to camp in quantity. Most of the leaves were allowed to dry naturally, but a mall quantity was often parched, so that it would be immediately available for smoking. For this purpose, the leaves were chopped up in a sea turtle carapace, then placed in a small, shallow clay bowl and parched with live coals. It was smoked in clay pipes, or pipes made from large tube worm shell or a thin section of Phragmites. The leaves were said to smell bad, although they were better for smoking than the galls from creosote bush. "People of the Desert and Sea, Ethnobotany of the Seri Indians".