The inflorescence bears several flowers with pinkish or greenish white tubular throats 2 to 3 centimetres (4⁄5 to 1+1⁄5 in) long, their bases enclosed in pointed sepals.

Nicotiana attenuata has been utilized as an ecological model species since 1994,[1] thanks in large part to its diverse interactions with a host of different plants, insects, and microorganisms in its native habitat.

Preferential gene retention after a genome-wide duplication event in the genus Nicotiana partially accounts for this large size, which is roughly twice that of N. obtusifolia (~1.23 Gb), a closely related species.

[6] As an indirect defense, when the leaves are eaten by larvae, the plant emits green leaf volatiles (GLVs) that attract Geocoris bugs, which are predators of the worm.

[7] It has also been discovered that wild tobacco can undergo defense priming in response to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from heterospecific neighbors.

Flowers reduce benzyl acetone (BA) concentrations, a hawkmoth-attracting volatile, and shift corolla opening to dawn, where day-active hummingbird pollination prevails and herbivory by the Hawkmoth larvae is lessened.