Nicotiana occidentalis subsp. hesperis is a short-lived herb native to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

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Description

It grows as an erect annual or short-lived perennial herb, from ten to 50 centimetres high, with white flowers.

Taxonomy

It was first published in 1960 by Nancy Tyson Burbidge

Nancy Tyson Burbidge

Nancy Tyson Burbidge AO was an Australian systemic botanist, conservationist and herbarium curator.Burbidge was born in Cleckheaton, Yorkshire; her father, William Burbidge, was an Anglican clergyman and immigrated to Australia in 1913 when he was appointed to a parish in Western Australia...

, who give it species rank as Nicotiana hesperis. In 1981, Philippa Horton demoted it to a subspecies of Nicotiana occidentalis

Nicotiana occidentalis

Nicotiana occidentalis, commonly known as Native Tobacco, is a short-lived herb native to Australia.-Description:It grows as an annual or short-lived perennial herb, from ten to 120 centimetres high, with white or pink flowers...

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Distribution and habitat

It is endemic to Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

, being fairly widespread through mid-latitude parts. It is most common along the coast, but is also found well inland, such as north of Kalgoorlie.