Classification

The origin of the word "Nicotiana", or nicotine, came from a French ambassador to Portugal called Jean Nicot de Villemain.  In 1560 she became familiar with the plant and offered the seeds as a gift to Catherine de’ Medici.  The plant soon called “herbe de l’ambassadeur” was cultivated in Paris and under her name Carl Linnaeus introduced the plant to botany.  The specific epithet "tabacum" simply is translated to tobacco in English.

Classification information

Domain:  Eukarya
 Kingdom: Plantae
  Phylum: Magnoliophyta 
   Class: Magnoliopsida
    Order: Solanales
     Family: Solanaceae
      Genus: Nicotiana
       Species: Nicotiana tabacum

Domain: Eukarya

Tobacco is part of the domain Eukarya. The word eukarya can be broken down into "eu" meaning true, and "karya" meaning nucleus.  Tobacco belongs to this domain because it is composed of eukaryotic cells, which contain a true nucleus and many membrane bound organelles.

Kingdom: Plantae

Tobacco is part of the kingdom Plantae because it is a green plant that harvests most of its energy from sunlight via photosynthesis.

Phylum: Magnoliophyta

Tobacco is part of the phylum Magnoliophyta which is a group that contains all of the seed bearing vascular plants or otherwise known as angiosperms.

Class: Magnoliopsida

Tobacco is part of the class Magnoliopsida  because the plant contains seeds within closed capillary structures called ovaries resulting in flowers. The dicotyledonous plants are also grouped within this class and they all have primary and secondary vascular tissue to allow for secondary growth in the plant.

Order: Solanales

Tobacco is part of the order Solanales because of its toxic nicotine content.  Plants in the order Solanales possess branched hairs, often spines, and commonly have alkaloids, like poison ivy, associated with them, which makes them poisonous.

Family: Solanaceae

Tobacco is part of the family Solanaceae because they are dicotyledonous plants that are in the “nightshade family”, with coffee, the potato, but interestingly enough not the sweet potato.  These plants have been highly cultivated over the years for consumer use among people.  Most of the plants in this family are herbaceous with terminal clusters of regular flowers usually borne in a cyme with estipulate leaves.  There are usually five sepals, petals, and anthers in this family of plants.

Genus: Nicotiana

Tobacco is part of the Genus Nicotiana because it is a group of herbs and shrubs in the “nightshade” family and are cultivated and grown to produce tobacco.

Phylogenetic trees:

This phylogenetic tree reflects the taxonomic information above and shows the broad domain, kingdom, phylum, and class that tobacco fits under.

Tobacco's journey first starts out in the Domain: Eukarya because it is composed of cells called eukaryotes that have a true nucleus accompanied by membrane-bound organelles. 

Tobacco is then classified under the Kingdom: Plantae because it is a green plant that harvests most of its energy via photosynthesis and acts as a primary producer in its environment. 

This phylogenetic tree depicts all of the angiosperms and their lineages.

Tobacco's first divergence is to the eudicots which is morphological.  Tobacco is considered to be in the eudicots because it contains flower parts in multiples of 4 or 5, possesses two cotyledons, has web-like veins in its leaves, has a main tap root, and the vascular tissues are arranged in a ring allowing for secondary growth.  Monocots have flower parts in multiples of 3, possess only one cotyledon, has parallel veins in its leaves, does not possess a main tap root, and the vascular tissue is scattered throughout the stem allowing for only primary growth in the plant.

Tobacco's second divergence is located at the asterids.  Tobacco is considered to be a part of asterids I while the "Monkey Flower" is part of the asterids II.  These two classes can be distinguished apart from each other morphologically by the fact that the asterids I appear to have the typical fused corolla derived independently which leads to the two different developmental pathways.

Tobacco's third divergence is to the night shades or the Family: Solanaceae which can also be determined morphologically.  The nightshades are a group of plants that have been highly cultivated over the years for consumer use among people.  Most of the plants in this family are herbaceous with terminal clusters of regular flowers usually borne in a cyme, possessing estipulate leaves.  There are usually five sepals, petals, and anthers in this family of plants.  

This phylogenetic tree is of the Family: Solanaceae.

In the Family: Solanaceae, Nicotiana tabacum can be found as the third species from the top.  The first plants found in the Solanaceae is coffee (Coffea arabica), which produces the drug called caffeine which I am sure you are all familiar with found in your morning cup. 

The Petunia (Petunia axillaris) was once used as a hallucinogenic by early Indians giving them a feeling like "soaring through the air", but is not nicotine which is where the plant tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) fits into the picture.

Towards the bottom of the tree, potatoes can be found (Solanum).  One can see how closely potatoes are related to tobacco.  When using molecular data, the various alkaloids that each plant produces can be seen isolating them from each other.

Now that you know where tobacco fits in the grand scheme of things, lets look at the type of habitat you will find this plant occupying by clicking here!

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Logan Van Hoof,  April 2011