27 July: Tobacco

It was on this date in 1586 that Sir Walter Raleigh brought the first tobacco to England from Virginia. 10 things you might not know about tobacco:

1. The tobacco plant belongs to the nightshade family, Solanacees. Other plants in this family include Potatoes and Tomatoes. There are about 70 species of tobacco plant. The chief commercial crop is N. tabacum.
2. Humans have been growing the stuff since about 6,000 B.C. in the Americas.
3. Native Americans have used tobacco since about 1 B.C. for religious and medicinal purposes. They used it as a wound dressing and as a painkiller, and as a cure for the common cold. They used to smoke it, too, both socially and as part of ceremonies to seal peace treaties or trade agreements. When Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492, he was offered tobacco leaves as a gift.
4. Tobacco is the most grown plant in the world which is not used for food.
5. The tobacco plant has teeny, tiny seeds. One flower will contain about 3,000 of them.
6. The seeds are planted in seedbeds first and nurtured until they are big enough to transplant into the field. There, the plants grow fast and can reach 8 or 9 feet in height, but the stems are weak, so the plants need to be supported. Buds may be removed to increase the number of leaves produced.
7. The fact that the plants grow quickly means they are useful in botanical research. Tobacco was the first GM crop to be tested in field trials in the United States and France in the 1980s. Tobacco was the GM crop to be approved for commercial planting in China in 1993.
8. Thomas Harriot, a 16th century astronomer believed that tobacco "openeth all the pores and passages of the body", and was the reason why the indigenous people of the Americas were "notably preserved in health."
9. Today, of course, we know differently, that smoking tobacco is incredibly bad for you. Some of the chemicals found in tobacco smoke include nicotine, cyanide, ammonia, formaldehyde, tar and carbon monoxide.
10. Nicotine was first isolated in 1560 by a Portuguese ambassador named Jean Nicot, who was trying to demonstrate the medicinal properties of tobacco to the king of France. Nicotine is a colourless alkaloid chemical which acts as a stimulant. When inhaled, it travels to the brain quickly and interacts with dopamine to produce a feeling of energy and relaxation. It is said to be as addictive as heroin or cocaine, which is why giving up smoking is so difficult. Nicotine extracts are used in pharmacology and perfumery. Nicotine was also used to fatten Pigs.

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