Plants of
South Australia
Nicotiana goodspeedii
Solanaceae
Small-flower Tobacco,
Smooth-flower Tobacco
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Regional Species Conservation Assessments per IBRA subregion.
Least concern
Near threatened
Rare
Vulnerable
Endangered
Critically endangered
Extinct
Data deficient
Adelaide
Arkaroola
Ceduna
Coober Pedy
Hawker
Innamincka
Marla
Marree
Mount Gambier
Oodnadatta
Renmark
Wudinna
Keith
Yunta
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock paintings: 7

Common names

Small-flower Tobacco

Smooth-flower Tobacco

Etymology

Nicotiana, named after Jean Nicot (1530-1600), a French Ambassador for the King of France to Lisbon in 1560, who sent the first tobacco plant to France. Goodspeedii, named after Thomas Harper Goodspeed (1887-1966), an American botanist specialising in the intra-generic relationships in Nicotiana, and director of the University of California Botanic Gardens.

Distribution and status

Found across central South Australia from the west coast to the eastern border; growing in open areas, often disturbed, usually on alkaline soils. Also found in Western Australia, New South Wales and Victoria. Native. Common in South Australia. Rare in Victoria. Common in the other States.
Herbarium regions: North Western, Nullarbor, Gairdner-Torrens, Flinders Ranges, Eastern, Eyre Peninsula, Northern Lofty, Murray, Yorke Peninsula
NRM regions: Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, Alinytjara Wilurara, Eyre Peninsula, Northern and Yorke, South Australian Arid Lands, South Australian Murray-Darling Basin
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Herb to 70 cm high or more, often with many glabrous stems. Leaves, mostly basal to 5 cm or more long. Stem leaves, subsessile to sessile to 19 cm long; elliptic to spatulate or narrowly so; upper leaves narrower. Inflorescence erect panicle-like spikes, few branching with small tubular white flowers. Flowering most of the year but mainly in spring. Fruits are brown, ellipsoid to ovoid capsule to 10 mm long. Seeds are orange-brown reniform seed to 1 mm long and 0.5 mm wide and covered in wrinkles. Seed embryo type is linear, fully-developed.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between October and January. Collect mature capsules that are brown or turning a pale straw-colour and contain brown seeds. Can collect individual capsules or break off the whole fruit spike. Place the capsules in a tray and leave to dry for one to two weeks, then rub the capsules gently by hand to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieve to separate the unwanted material. Store the seeds with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place. From two collections, the seed viability was high, ranging from 95% to 100%.

Seeds stored:
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LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)		Number
of plants		Date
collected		Collection number
Collection location		Date
stored		% ViabilityStorage
temperature
BGA 
MSB		15,000 (1.7 g)
15,000 (1.7 g)		100+22-Nov-2005DJD213
Flinders Ranges		9-Aug-200695%-18°C
BGA32,000 (3.88 g)503-Apr-2007RJB71147
Eastern		19-Sep-2008100%-18°C
 
MSB
16,400 (1.26 g)		100+30-Sep-2008DJD1092
Eyre Peninsula		85%
Location: BGA — the seeds are stored at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, MSB — the seeds are stored at the Millennium Seed Bank, Kew, England.
Number of plants: This is the number of plants from which the seeds were collected.
Collection location: The Herbarium of South Australia's region name.
% Viability: Percentage of filled healthy seeds determined by a cut test or x-ray.
Germination table:
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We acknowledge the contributions of the South Australian Seed Conservation Centre, the Botanic Gardens of South Australia, and the Department for Environment and Water.