Indian Tobacco

At some point in school you probably studied Oregon's indigenous people. Depending on where you lived, you may have heard about the "sweat houses" used mostly in Southern Oregon. No, these weren't your everyday fitness places, rather they were places of social gathering, at least for the men:  a place for a Happy Hour of sorts!

Usually, after the evening meal, men would gather in the sweat house, smoke and pass around a pipe which contained "Indian tobacco." The Indian Tobacco plant is native to the western states and was used extensively by tribes in southern Oregon and northern California. This reference has a nice summary of its use: http://archive.tobacco.org/History/indiantobcalif.html

Lewis and Clark collected samples of Indian Tobacco (Nicotiana quadrivalvis) on October 12, 1804 along the Grand River in South Dakota. Also of note, these plants are named after Jean Nicot de Villemain (1530 - 1600), who is credited with introducing tobacco plants to France in the 16th century.

Smoking tobacco may date back to 5000 - 3000 BC, when South American natives began to cultivate tobacco. It was probably burned by accident at first and then intentionally until wooden pipes were developed for direct inhaling. The smoking of tobacco and various hallucinogenic drugs was used to achieve trances and to come into contact with the spirit world. 

For the super curious, Wikipedia has extensive articles on the history of smoking and on nicotine.

Back here in the present, I found three distinct species of these native tobacco plants growing in Oregon, but could not determine for sure which one we found growing along the banks of the Rogue River in Grants Pass. Most likely they are Nicotiana attenuata. They were about two feet tall, and each blossom measured 1 to 1.5 in. across. (6/21/2013).

The Indian Tobacco is seen at the lower right in this photo.