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Nicotiana glauca

Nova espécie: 
Yes

Evergreen shrub up to 6 m tall, glabrous, with an open crown and blue-green leaves. Capsule 7-10 mm, ellipsoid.

Scientific name: Nicotiana glauca R.C. Graham

Common name: tree tobacco, glaucous-leaf tobacco, mustard tree, tobacco-bush, wild tobacco

Family: Solanaceae

Status in Portugal: Invasive species (listed in Decree-Law no. 92/2019, 10th July).

Risk Assessment Score: 23 | Value obtained according to a protocol adapted from the Australian Weed Risk Assessment (Pheloung et al. 1999), by Morais et al. (2017), according to which values above 13 mean that the species has risk of having invasive behavior in the Portuguese territory | Updated on 30/09/2017.

Synonymy: Nicotiana glauca var. angustifolia Comes, Nicotiana glauca var. decurrens Comes, Nicotiana glauca var. grandiflora Comes, Nicotiana glauca f. lateritia Lillo, Nicotidendron glauca (Graham) Griseb., Siphaulax glabra Raf.

Last update: 25/01/2022

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Family: 
Solanaceae
Appearence: 
Trees and shrubs

How to recognize it

Evergreen shrub up to 6 m tall, glabrous, with an open crown and bluish-green leaves..

Leaves: 21-120 x 12-77 mm, elliptical to lanceolate or ovate, sometimes asymmetrical, acute, glabrous, glaucous.

Flowers: shaped like small tubes, yellow, 27-45 mm, numerous, arranged in an inflorescence at the end of the twigs, loose, panicle-like.

Fruits: 7-10 mm capsule, ellipsoid.

Flowering: from March to November.

Similar species

Other species of Nicotiana are herbs (not shrubs) and have hairs on the surface so they are not easily confused. Roughly, it bears some resemblance to Mirabilis jalapa, but this is an herb, it is smaller and greener in hue.

Characteristics that aid invasion

Produces small and numerous seeds; each plant can produce between 10,000 and 1,000,000 seeds and these are dispersed by wind and water. Germination can occur in a wide range of temperatures (from 7ºC to 30ºC) and the seedlings grow quickly and, under favorable conditions, can reach 3 m in the first year and bloom.

It is quite tolerant of mechanical damage (such as cutting). Even if the harsh winters harm it, it is able to regenerate from scratch.

It is a pioneer plant in many disturbed ecosystems and waste dump fills.

 

Native distribution area

South of tropical America (Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia). 

Distribution in Portugal

Mainland Portugal (Trás-os-Montes, Beira Litoral, Beira Baixa, Estremadura, Alto Alentejo, Baixo Alentejo, and Algarve) and Madeira (Madeira, Porto Santo, and Selvagens islands).      

For more detailed locations of this species, check the online interactive map. This map is still incomplete – we need your help! Contribute by submitting records of the location of the species where you can find it.  

 

 

 

Áreas geográficas onde há registo da presença de Nicotiana glauca

Other places where the species is invasive

Australia, Africa (South Africa, Cape Verde, Namibia, Uganda, Zambia,Tanzania, Malawi, Kenya, Ethiopia),  America (Cuba, USA - Hawaii and California), Europe (Croatia, Ukraine, UK, Spain, and Gibraltar).  

Introduction reasons

Introduced as ornamental.

Preferential invasion environments

It invades more or less arid environments, close to the sea, and usually grows on old walls, ruins, heaps, rocky areas, etc.

 

Impacts on ecosystems

It can compete with native plants, for example, for water resources.

When it forms extensive and dense stands, it prevents the development of other species, which is particularly worrying if it happens in conservation areas.

Economic impacts
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Other impacts

Unpalatable and poisonous to domestic and wild animals.

 

Controlling an invasive species demands a well-planned management, which includes the determination of the invaded area, identifying the causes of invasion, assessing the impacts, defining the intervention priorities, selecting the adequate control methodologies and their application. Afterwards it is fundamental to monitor the efficiency of the methodologies and recuperation of the intervened area as to perform, whenever necessary, the follow-up control.

The first measures to be taken should be preventive, ceasing to use this species and replacing it, whenever possible and appropriate, with native species. It is also important to bet on the good state of conservation of the habitats, with their communities of native plants, as this makes the establishment of this and other invasive plants difficult.

The control methodologies used for Nicotiana glauca include:

Physical control

Hand pulling: seedlings and young plants can be uprooted if necessary with the help of tools to help remove the main roots. Root/stem separation zones must be removed to prevent regeneration.

Cutting: due to its ability to regenerate stump and root, cutting has limited success as a control method. However, it can be useful in the flowering season to prevent it from fruiting and producing more seeds.Being possible to cut at the end of the dry season/summer, it helps to reduce regeneration.
 
Physical + chemical control

For adult specimens, the most efficient is the cutting and subsequent treatment of the stumps with herbicide, otherwise, after some time, it regenerates. The trunk should be cut as close to the ground as possible and the herbicide applied immediately (in the following seconds) to the stump.

Biological control

The beetle Malabris aculeata (Coleoptera) has been released as a biological control agent for Nicotiana glauca and has had some success when used as part of an integrated management program. This agent is not studied for Portugal so it is not currently an alternative.

Visit the webpage How to Control for additional and more detailed information about the correct application of these methodologies.

 

 

 

 

CABI (2013) Nicotiana glauca. In: Invasive Species Compendium. Wallingford, UK: CAB International. Available: http://www.cabi.org/isc/ [Retrieved 25/01/2022].

Lusweti A, Wabuyele E, Ssegawa P. & Mauremootoo JR (2011) Invasive plants of East Africa (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania), Lucid v. 3.5 key and fact sheets: Nicotiana glauca. National Museums of Kenya, Makerere University, BioNET-EAFRINET, CABI & The University of Queensland. https://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/eafrinet/weeds/key/weeds/Media/Html/Nicotiana_glauca_(Tree_Tobacco).htm

Marchante H, Morais M, Freitas H, Marchante E (2014) Guia prático para a identificação de Plantas Invasoras em Portugal. Coimbra. Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra. 65 pp.

Sanz-Elorza M, Sánchez EDD, Vesperina ES (2004) Atlas de las plantas alóctonas invasoras en España. Dirección General para la Biodiversidade, Madrid, 208 pp.

The Plant List (2013) Nicotiana glauca. Versão 1.1. Disponível: http://www.theplantlist.org/ [Retrieved 20/03/2020].

Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (2020) Nicotiana glauca. In: UTAD Jardim Botânico. Vila Real, PT. Disponível: https://jb.utad.pt [Retrieved 20/03/2020].