Wild tobacco

Farmer, 2001). Even nectar production may be effected by such hormones (Heil et al, 2001). The gaseous hormone ethylene plays an important role in plant development, but also in defense (Mattoo and Suttle, 1991). Upon perception of a pathogen, plants show enhanced ethylene production, which has been shown to be involved in the induction of defense reactions (Boiler, 1991). Wild tobacco plants engineered with an Arabidopsis sp. ethylene-insensitive gene do not show typical leaf development arrestment in the presence of leaves of other tobacco plants, demonstrating the importance of ethylene in plant development (Knoester et al.,... 

The ethylene-insensitive plants also showed reduced defense protein synthesis and were susceptible to soil pathogens to which they were normally fully resistant. In connection with the third trophic level, Kahl et al. (2000) found that attack by Manduca caterpillars on wild tobacco plants causes an ethylene burst that suppressed induced nicotine production but stimulated volatile emissions. They argued that the plant chooses to employ an indirect defense (the attraction of natural enemies) rather than a direct defense to which the attacker could adapt (Kahl et al, 2000 Winz and Baldwin, 2001). This implies that the plant is capable of identifying its attacker. We discuss this possibility in more detail in the discussion of specificity. 

C. nigriceps could distinguish between the odor of plants that have been damaged by its specihc host H. virescens and the odor of plants damaged by a closely related non-host. In a natural, non-agricultural environment, Kessler and Baldwin (2001) supplemented the odor of wild tobacco plants with synthetic volatiles and found that (Z)-3-hexenol, linalool and (Z)-a-bergamotene all increased the predation rate... 

Communication between plants induced resistance in wild tobacco plants following clipping of neighboring sagebrush. Oecologia 125 66-71. 

Raina A. K., Jackson D. M. and Secerson R. F. (1997) Increased pheromone production in wild tobacco budworm (Lepidoptera Noctuidae) exposed to host plants and host chemicals. Environ. Entomol. 26, 101-105. 

BALDWIN, I.T., Mechanism of damage-induced alkaloid production in wild tobacco. J. Chem. Ecol., 1989,15, 1661-1680. 

Effective plant defense requires coordination of direct and indirect defenses such that they do not interfere or even act synergistically. A relevant example comes from studies by Baldwin, 8 who wondered why the nicotine defense of wild tobacco is downregulated by an ethylene burst following attack by young tobacco hornworm larvae. He formulated three — as yet untested — hypotheses to explain this. 

Lobelia. Indian tobacco wild tobacco emetic herb asthma wsed bladder pod vomit wort. Dried leaves and tops of Lobelia inflate L., Lobetiaeeae. (The seeds are also used.) Habit. Canada, U.S. ConstiL Leaves and lops chiefly lobeline, also lobelidine, lobelanine, lobelamdine. and other alkaloids. Seeds lobeline, fixed oil. 

Marlin D, Nicolson SW, Yusuf AA, Stevenson PC, I Icyman IIM, Kruger K. The mly African wild tobacco, Nicotiana Africana Alkaloid content and the effect of herbiv-... 

Karban R, Maron J, Felton GW, Ervin G, Eichenseer H (2003) Herbivore damage to sagebrush induces resistance in wild tobacco evidence for eavesdropping between plants. Oikos... 

A wild tobacco plant from the Mojave Desert in the United States Nicotiana attenuata) uses very low doses of nicotine in its nectar. The plant uses sweet-smelling benzylacetone to attract insect pollinators, but the bitter taste of the very small amounts of nicotine deters visitors such as hawkmoths and hummingbirds from taking too much nectar. 

Common/vernacular names Indian tobacco, wild tobacco, asthma weed, gagroot, emetic herb, and vomit wort. 

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