Tobacco flowers (Nicotiana tabacum) in front of a magnified drawing of a leaf from the same plant. This shrub, native to tropical America, produces the toxic substance nicotine, which protects it from damage by insects and grazing animals. Small doses of nicotine produce a pleasurable stimulus in humans, but habitual use (such as when smoking tobacco cigarettes) leads to addiction. This artwork was published in the work 'Tobacco, its History and Associations' (1859) by the English engraver Frederick William Fairholt (1814-1866).