The Botany of the Tobacco Plant

There are few activities more controversial than smoking tobacco. Smoking is clearly detrimental to human health, but there is little doubt that tobacco is a highly profitable plant species. Lets learn more about the plant itself, including its history, anatomy and physiology, growth habit plant types, and other potential uses. History and Background of Tobacco Nicotiana tabacum is the Latin name for tobacco. It belongs to the plant family Solanaceae, so, perhaps surprisingly, tobacco is botanically related to potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplant! Tobacco is native to the Americas, and cultivation was thought to have begun as early as 6000 BCE. It is believed that leaf blades were wilted, dried, and rolled to make primitive cigars. Columbus noted Cuban natives smoking cigars when he discovered America, and in 1560, Jean Nicot, the French ambassador to Portugal, brought tobacco to England and France. Nicot made a fortune selling the plant to Europeans. Nicot also reportedly gifted tobacco to the queen of France to cure her headaches. (Did you notice that the Latin genus name for tobacco, Nicotiana, was named after Jean Nicot?) Anatomy and Physiology The cultivated tobacco plant normally grows to one or two feet high. The five flower petals are contained within a Corolla and can be colored white, yellow, pink, or red. The tobacco fruit (yes, tobacco bears fruit!) measures at 1.5 - 2 mm, and consists of a capsule containing two seeds. With the tobacco plant, however, it is the leaves that are the most economically important. The leaf blades are enormous, often growing to 20 inches long and 10 inches wide. The leaf shape can be ovate (egg-shaped), obcordate (heart-shaped) or elliptic (oval, but with a small point at one end). The leaves grow toward the base of the plant, and can be lobed or unlobed but are not separated into leaflets. On the stem, the leaves appear alternately, with one leaf per node along the stem. The leaves possess a distinct petiole. The underside of the leaf is fuzzy or hairy. Why are the tobacco leaves important? The leaves are the plant part containing the nicotine. However, the nicotine is manufactured in the plant roots, not the leaves! The nicotine is transported to the leaves via the xylem. Some species of Nicotiana are very high in nicotine content; Nicotiana rustica leaves, for example, can contain up to 18% nicotine. Growing Tobacco Plants Tobacco, a plant that is cultivated as an annual but is actually a perennial, is propagated by seed. The seeds are sown in beds; one ounce of seed in 100 square yards of soil can produce up to four acres of flue-cured tobacco, or up to three acres of burley tobacco. The plants grow for between six and ten weeks before the seedlings are transplanted into the fields. The plants are topped (their heads are cut off!) before the seed head develops, except for those plants that are used to produce next years seed. The reason the plant tops are removed when flowering begins is so all the plants energy goes to increase the size and the thickness of the leaves. The tobacco suckers (the flowering stalks and branches, which appear in response to the plant being topped) are removed so that only the large leaves are produced on the main stem. Because growers want the leaves to be large and lush, the tobacco plants are fertilized very heavily with nitrogen fertilizer. Cigar-wrapper tobacco, a staple of Connecticut agriculture, is produced under partial shade—resulting in thinner and less damaged leaves. Plants grow in the field for three to five months until harvest. The leaves are removed and purposely wilted in drying barns, and fermentation takes place during curing. Tobacco Types Several types of tobacco are grown, depending on their use: Fire-cured, used for snuff and chewing tobacco.Dark air-cured, used for chewing tobacco.Air-cured (Maryland) tobacco, used for cigarettes.Air-cured cigar tobaccos, used for cigar wrappers and fillers.Flue-cured, used for cigarette, pipe, and chewing tobacco.Burley (air-cured), used for cigarette, pipe, and chewing tobacco. Fire curing is basically what the name suggests; open fires are used so that the smoke can reach the leaves. The smoke makes the leaves darker colored and more distinctly flavored. No heat is used in air curing except to prevent mold. In flue curing, heat is applied in such a way that no smoke reaches the leaves hung in racks. Other Potential Uses What other possibilities are there for tobacco, as smoking rates have been vastly reduced over the last 20 years? Believe it or not, there is a possibility that tobacco oils can be used in biofuels. Also, researchers in India have patented an extract from tobacco called solansole, for use in several drug types.

The Red Cross A Non Military Community - 1914 Words

- In a non military community when people hear about the Red Cross they think disaster relief. They have no clue what we do for our service members and veterans. When people hear about the Red Cross in the military community they automatically think of an emergency. There are a number of areas that they are not aware of, regional manager for Services to the Armed Forces and Veterans Yolanda M. Gainwell said. She explained how the Red Cross is located all over the country, and internationally, but that people typically do not look for the organization before they need it. - It s not that the information is not out there or is being put out. It s about how are you receiving it. Most of the time when we go out to an environment and talk to soldiers they re not paying attention. They re there because their commander said they had to go, Gainwell said. She wants people to know that the Red Cross does much more than helping military members through emergencies. The department s main focus is to provide program and services to all active duty service members and veterans. - We ve always partnered with the military community to do an array of things from volunteer engagement to lifesaving courses. The American Red Cross is the only organization that is nationally chartered to provide emergency messaging. That s what differentiates us from any nonprofit organization that supports the military. Emergency messages always has to go through the Red Cross. We are the onlyShow MoreRelatedThe American Red Cross Is A Non For Profit907 Words   |  4 PagesAmerican Red Cross is a non for profit, congressionally chartered organization. Its primary focus is to give help anywhere that is needed both here and abroad. 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Medicine River Free Essays

â€Å"Where We Belong† Thomas King’s book â€Å"Medicine River†, is about a man named Will, who no matter what he does, he feels his connections are not he wants when he lived in Toronto, that is, until he goes back home to Medicine River for his mother’s funeral. This is where he meets Harlen Bigbear, a blunt and straight-forward kind of guy who becomes one of Will’s best friends. I feel Harlen is a big reason why Will comes back to Medicine River. We will write a custom essay sample on Medicine River or any similar topic only for you Order Now As much as Will and James, who is Will’s brother, had a mother growing up, I feel Will finally has a sense of family when he goes back to Medicine River. A day out with everyone in town seems to make Will a part of their own. Will is in an intimate friendship with Louise Heavyman and plays the father figure to her infant daughter, South Wing. Harlen, I feel is a big part of Will coming back to Medicine River, Harlen was kind of aggressive on his approach to getting to know Will. Harlen tried to get to know Will. Harlen tried to spice up Medicine River, comparing it to Toronto. He even said that there were no Indian photographers, stating there was no competition for an Indian photographer. Harlen also said that it would be a good idea to â€Å"start [Will’s] own business† (King 90). I feel that if Harlen did not suggest he try, Will probably would have stayed in Toronto. Harlen did everything he could to bring everything Indian back home. How to cite Medicine River, Papers

Comparison of Ambulances and First sight Essay Example For Students

Comparison of Ambulances and First sight Essay The two poems I have chosen have similarities and contrasts. Ambulances is about an ambulance being a symbol of death, and as living beings, it brings closer what is left to come for us. Larkin suffered from necrophobia and this is thus reflected in poems such as Ambulances where he passionately talks about his underlying fears always being there, lying just under all we do. First Sight however is all to do with life and the first things lambs see and experience when first born into this world and is therefore all to do with birth as opposed to Ambulances death. As a similarity though, Larkin was very fond of animals and after he died, he left a large sum of money to the RSPCA. Therefore his passion about animals is reflected in this poem, as they are innocent, suggested from the use of the word white but born into a hostile world, which they have to cope with. The poetic voice in both the poems are third person and although the views may be of a narrator figure who is not Larkin, because of his passion to both subject themes, the views expressed in the poems are safely his.  Ambulance comes from the word Ambulare, which is Latin for to walk/move. Not only is this movement shown in the poem with the visiting of all streets and the traffic parting, but it also connects to First Sight where the first line is about movement, Lambs that learn to walk in snow. The poems differ in their language but have a similar structure. Ambulances has a symmetrical structure, with five stanzas each lasting six lines in length and First Sight has also a symmetrical structure but has two stanzas with seven lines. As for the language, Ambulances is fairly descriptive with figurative imagery created through its use of; similes closed like confessionals; personification loud noons of cities giving back none of the glances they absorb; and alliteration glossy grey and wild white. First Sight however creates a more literal image in our minds of the scene that Larkin wishes to convey, newly stumbling to and fro. The poem does contain some non-literal imagery through the use of alliteration and assonance, wretched width and utterly unlike. Also in the language of the poems, they contrast in that Ambulances uses some positive words, such as solving and borne to create an overall negative effect, whereas First Sight uses some negative words, such as wretched and glare to create an overall positive effect. The themes in the poems sometimes contrast and are sometimes similar. In Ambulances, the world describes is familiar to every reader; death happens and will happen to everyone, it is a world we can relate to. First Sight, however is a world unfamiliar to us, as not only do most people not remember being born but also when born, most people are not subjected to the hostile conditions of the outside world because in the poem, the lambs have no shelter. Ambulances also states that life is unique and everyones is different which blends together to make us who we are, the unique random blend of families and fashion, whereas First Sight states that life is the same for the lambs, an ongoing circle for all generations, Earths immeasurable surprise. Also, the idea of a circle is shown from using the same word, snow at the end of both the first and the last line of the poem. A result, moreover, from all of this is a similarity. Although the reader may not be able to relate to the experiences of First Sight, what happens, happens to all lambs, shown through the use of plural and they, just as in Ambulances, All streets in time are visited again shows it happens to everyone. .ua6aae7e9ba06ba7795fcbb6351d24689 , .ua6aae7e9ba06ba7795fcbb6351d24689 .postImageUrl , .ua6aae7e9ba06ba7795fcbb6351d24689 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ua6aae7e9ba06ba7795fcbb6351d24689 , .ua6aae7e9ba06ba7795fcbb6351d24689:hover , .ua6aae7e9ba06ba7795fcbb6351d24689:visited , .ua6aae7e9ba06ba7795fcbb6351d24689:active { border:0!important; } .ua6aae7e9ba06ba7795fcbb6351d24689 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ua6aae7e9ba06ba7795fcbb6351d24689 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ua6aae7e9ba06ba7795fcbb6351d24689:active , .ua6aae7e9ba06ba7795fcbb6351d24689:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ua6aae7e9ba06ba7795fcbb6351d24689 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ua6aae7e9ba06ba7795fcbb6351d24689 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ua6aae7e9ba06ba7795fcbb6351d24689 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ua6aae7e9ba06ba7795fcbb6351d24689 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ua6aae7e9ba06ba7795fcbb6351d24689:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ua6aae7e9ba06ba7795fcbb6351d24689 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ua6aae7e9ba06ba7795fcbb6351d24689 .ua6aae7e9ba06ba7795fcbb6351d24689-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ua6aae7e9ba06ba7795fcbb6351d24689:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Punishment by Seamus Heaney EssayBoth poems have rhetoric endings, with Larkin cogently revealing his response to the experience. In Ambulances, he declares that we cannot escape death and that the paradox is that as the ambulance moves away, it can bring death closer to us. Death is the end of an era. The same is in First Sight. Larkin expresses how, because the lambs are innocent in that they have no prescience; they live off their instincts and are not able to grasp the concept of change.