A major function of the tobacco floral nectary is defense against microbial attack

By R. Thornburg, C. Carter, A. Powell, R. Mittler, L. Rizhsky, H. T. Horner. Plant Systematics and Evolution, 2003

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The microbial ecology of flowers: an emerging frontier in phyllosphere research1 (2014, background): “Microbial communities in nectaries, though, are strongly affected by the chemical properties of the nectar, which limits growth of certain microbes and therefore acts as a selective force in microbial community assembly (Carter and Thornburg 2004; González-Teuber et al. 2009; Heil 2011; Thornburg et”
Bee Food: The Chemistry and Nutritional Value of Nectar, Pollen and Mixtures of the Two (2011, background): “One possible benefit of these secondary metabolites in nectar may be antibiotic activity against microbes (Adler 2000), a function that is shared by proteins in nectar, termed nectarins (Thornburg et al. 2003).”
Transient starch metabolism in ornamental tobacco floral nectaries regulates nectar composition and release (2007, background): “Previous nectary/nectar studies have shown that ornamental tobacco permits great latitude in the types of experiments that can be performed and allows a greater understanding of the biochemistry of nectar than can be obtained from Arabidopsis alone [4,8,19–26].”