Scientific name of tobacco

'Manduca sexta' is the scientific, Latin or binomial name for the tobacco hornworm. The name is used in terms of the larval stage, as a destructive caterpillar of tobacco and tomato plants. It also is used in terms of the adult stage as a moth.

The caterpillar is lime-green in color, with red horns and with markings similar to seven [7] diagonal lines. The moth is brown and gray, with six [sexta] spots in sets of three on either side of the abdomen.