Nicotiana otophora is a perennial

Perennial plant

A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...

 herbaceous

Herbaceous

A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...

 plant. It is a wild species of tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

 native to the Andes

Andes

The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...

 Mountains of Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

 and Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

.

Recent genetic evidence suggests the possibility that it is one of the parent species of the common domesticated tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

 (Nicotiana tabacum

Nicotiana tabacum

Nicotiana tabacum, or cultivated tobacco, is a perennial herbaceous plant. It is found only in cultivation, where it is the most commonly grown of all plants in the Nicotiana genus, and its leaves are commercially grown in many countries to be processed into tobacco. It grows to heights between 1...

), which was hybridized along with the species Nicotiana sylvestris

Nicotiana sylvestris

Nicotiana sylvestris is a species of wild tobacco known by the common names Woodland Tobacco and South American Tobacco. It is native to South America, and is often grown in gardens for its scented flowers. The scent is strongest at night, so as to attract pollinating moths...

, and Nicotiana tomentosiformis

Nicotiana tomentosiformis

Nicotiana tomentosiformis is a perennial herbaceous plant. It is a wild species of tobacco native to the Yungas Valley region in the eastern piedmont of the Andes Mountains, primarily in Bolivia....

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The evidence for its parentage of Nicotiana tabacum is weaker at this time than it is for the other two species Nicotiana sylvestris

Nicotiana sylvestris

Nicotiana sylvestris is a species of wild tobacco known by the common names Woodland Tobacco and South American Tobacco. It is native to South America, and is often grown in gardens for its scented flowers. The scent is strongest at night, so as to attract pollinating moths...

, and Nicotiana tomentosiformis

Nicotiana tomentosiformis

Nicotiana tomentosiformis is a perennial herbaceous plant. It is a wild species of tobacco native to the Yungas Valley region in the eastern piedmont of the Andes Mountains, primarily in Bolivia....

.