Tobacco
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Tobacco is the common name for the species of plants belonging to the taxonomic genus Nicotiana. It has been harvested and cultivated ever since pre-columbian times. The tobacco plant is native to Tropical America. Even small doses of tobacco can quench thirst and hunger. It can also relieve pain in the human body. Heavy doses of tobacco can cause diarrhea, catatonia, respiratory failure, nausea, trance, and even visions. God created this plant because of its beauty, but because of the fall of Adam & Eve man has sinned and created a devil drug out of it and because of this God is sad. [3]
Body Design
Tobacco, which also has multiple species, is a branching herb that branches in multiples. The plant itself can reach up to two and a half meters in height when it reaches a state of maturity. The leaves on the plant are relatively large and vary in size. The largest leaf of a tobacco plant can reach up to sixty centimeters in length. Every single part of the tobacco plant is completely covered in short viscid-glandular like hairs that in turn make the tobacco plant have a sticky like feel to the surface. The hairs on the tobacco plant also exude a yellow type color of some form that contains nicotine. Nicotine, is an addictive substance that is put into cigarettes. The flowers that are attached to the tobacco plant contain tube-like structures that usually range from about five to six centimeters in length and are most of the time are five millimeters in diameter. The actual flowers themselves are a whitish pinkish type of color. The seeds of the tobacco plant are very plentiful. They are small, brown and kidney shaped. [4]
Life Cycle
Tobacco grows just like any other plant. Its seeds are planted into the ground, the seeds are watered, and the sunlight shines upon the ground which makes the seed sprout a tobacco plant. The plant contains seeds which can be used to grow even more tobacco plants. Then the life cycle continues after that. Tobacco is a perennial plant but is harvested yearly. It can be cultivated in a wide multitude of plant soils. For the plant to grow, it needs a minimum amount of one hundred and twenty days without any frost. The seed of the tobacco plant that may have been harvested germinates after seven to fourteen days. After the tobacco plant has grown for about two to three months the usual amount of leaves that would be produced would have been about twelve to twenty two leaves. When a tobacco plant reaches maturity it stands at about six to nine feet tall and has approximately twenty two leaves. [3]
Ecology
When tobacco is grown in the ground it is very sensitive to its surrounding environment. The type of soil, the humidity, are all very important factors to keep in mind when growing tobacco. The most optimal temperature when growing tobacco should be around twenty to thirty degrees Celsius; it also matters greatly when growing tobacco. The atmospheric humidity should always stay at around eighty to eighty-five percent. The amount of nitrogen is also an important factor to take into account when cultivating tobacco. Nitrogen levels need to stay at plentiful amount for optimal growing conditions for the tobacco plant.[5]
The Dangers of Tobacco
Tobacco is commonly associated in this day and age with cancer. Over 90 percent of all cancer associated with the human lungs are caused by smoking some shape of form of tobacco. Also, 87 percent of all cancers associated with the human lungs are developed by the smoking of tobacco. The leading cause of death in the United States of America is coronary heart disease, which is most of the time linked to tobacco. Tobacco causes a large list of cancers, they include but are not limited to: lung cancer, cancer of the oral cavity, bladder cancer, cancer of the larynx (voice box), cancer of the oral cavity (mouth), cancer of the stomach, and cancer of the pharynx (throat). [6]
References
- ↑ Classification USDA. Web. Accessed on June 2, 2013.
- ↑ Nicotiana Wikispecies. Web. Accessed on June 2, 2013.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Nicotiana GeoChemBio. Web. Accessed on June 2, 2013. Unknown Author.
- ↑ Nicotiana tabacum Wikipedia. Web. Accessed on June 2, 2013.
- ↑ Tobacco Wikipedia. Web. Accessed on June 2, 2013.
- ↑ Smoking & Tobacco Use CDC. Web. Accessed on June 2, 2013.
