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["Lynda" <lurine AT softcom.net>]

Rustica is native to South America.  No one knows for sure which of the 
hybrids (rustica or tabcum) was being used, in the majority, on the East 
Coast.  *Both* however were being used and both had traveled up from South 
America.

Rustica is Andian.  Tabacum is Bolivian.

Nicotiana quadrivalvis is the species that was on the West Coast and points 
east to the Dakotas..

Multivalvis L. is also native to the Pacific Coast and points east.  It was 
what was used most commonly in California.  It is also was the fav for the 
Blackfoot.

HOWEVER, it wasn't, in North America, considered by *all* the people to be 
one of the most holy of plants.  Nor was it the only plant used in the 
pipes.  The various Nicotianas were used as a medicinal plant and was also 
used as a gift.

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 

>
> Among all indigenous people of the Americas tobacco was considered one
> of the most holy of plants.