Indian tobacco
noun
1
: a poisonous North American annual lobelia (Lobelia inflata) with small blue or white flowers
2
: a wild tobacco (Nicotiana quadrivalvis synonym N. bigelovii) found in dry valleys from southern California to southern Oregon
Examples of Indian tobacco in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest smoked wild coyote tobacco (Nicotiana attenuata) and Indian tobacco (Nicotiana quadrivalvis).
—
Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 14 June 2025
Clarke shows off his Indian tobacco plants.
—Debra Utacia Krol, The Arizona Republic, 28 Aug. 2022
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 14 June 2025
Clarke shows off his Indian tobacco plants.
—Debra Utacia Krol, The Arizona Republic, 28 Aug. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Indian tobacco.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Indian%20tobacco. Accessed 14 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share