( 1801 ) 



Nycterium amazonium. Lambert's 

 Night-shade. 



Class and Order. 



Pentandria Monogynia. 



Generic Character. 



Cat. 4 — 5-fidus. Cor. irregularis, 4 — 5-fida. Stam. 4 — 5, 

 filamentis brevissimis ; antheris inaequalibus : infima produc- 

 tion [infimis 1, % vel. 3, productioribus,] declinata. Stylus 

 declinatus. Bacca subrotunda. Caulis hcrbaccus autjruti- 

 cosus. Folia simplicia aut composita. Pedunculi solitarii 

 multiflori extraaxillares. Ventenat in Hort. Malm. 



Specific Character and Synonym. 



Nycterium amazonium (fruticosum, polygamum) foliis peti- 

 olatis semicordato-ovatis repandis cauleque tomentosis 

 inermibus, calycibus fertilibus aculeatis : sterilibus nudis. 



Solanvm amazonium; fruticosum, polygamum, tridynamum, 

 tomentosum, subaculeatum : foliis oblongo ovatis, repan- 

 dis, v. sinuato-lobatis, calycibus hermaphroditic solis 

 aculeatis: flore irregulari subinaequali. Bot. Reg. 71. 



Descr. Stem shrubby, covered with a white tomentum. 

 Leaves scattered, petiolated, ovate, with a creeping undulate 

 margin, generally extending a little down the footstalk on one 

 side only, tomentose on both sides, on the upper very soft, 

 on the under harsher. Peduncles lateral, not axillary, bear- 

 ing several flowers in a compound corymb. The upper flowers 

 in the corymb are generally male, and consequently sterile, 

 the lowermost hermaphrodite and fertile ; of the latter only 

 *he calyx is covered with straight sharp prickles, that of the 

 male is altogether unarmed. Corolla irregular, 5-cleft : two 

 of the lacinus widely divaricate. Stamens 5, on very short 

 filaments. Anthers unequal, declined: in the male flowers 

 generally three long and two short, in the hermaphrodite two 



long 



