Nicotiana glauca is a species of wild tobacco known by the common name tree tobacco. Its leaves are attached to the stalk by petioles, and its leaves and stems are neither pubescent nor sticky like Nicotiana tabacum.
Nicotiana glauca is a much branched shrub or small tree that normally grows to a height of more than 2 m. It can reach 7 m in height. Its leaves are thick and rubbery up to 20 cm long. It has yellow tubular flowers about 5 cm long and 1 cm wide. Tree tobacco is native to South America but it is now widespread as an introduced species on other continents. It is a common roadside weed in the southwestern United States, and an invasive plant species in California native plant habitats. The plant is used for a variety of medicinal purposes and smoked by Native American groups. The Cahuilla people used leaves interchangeably with other tobacco species in hunting rituals and as a poultice to treat swellings, bruises, cuts, wounds, boils, sores, inflamed throat, and swollen glands. It contains the toxic alkaloid anabasine and ingestion of the leaves can be fatal.
