208 Annals of the South African Museum. 



* 



SOLANACEAE. 



SOLANUM, Linn. 

 S. nigrum, Linn. 



Veld and mountain slopes. 5-30 in. high, flowers white. Summer. 

 A. Dieterlen, 157 ! ; ravine on west slopes of Leribe plateau, flowers 

 white, Phillips, 632 ! ; Qoqolosi Peak, Phillips, 943 ! 



DISTRIBUTION : S.W. Africa. Malmesbury. Paarl. Cape. Caledon. 

 G-eorge. TJitenhage. Fort Beaufort. Somerset East. Murraysburg. 

 Eichmond. Herbert. Komgha. Transkei. Tembuland. Natal. 

 Transvaal (Matebe). 



SESUTO : Seshoa BoliloTco. Meaning unknown. The young plant is 

 cooked as spinach. The ripe fruits are edible. The burnt and 

 powdered roots are rubbed into incisions made on the lower part of 

 the back as a cure for lumbago. 



S. supinum, Dunal. 



Roadsides and mountain slopes. 3-15 in. high. Summer. A. 

 Dieterlen, 533 ! 



DISTRIBUTION : Albany. Queenstown. Somerset East. G-raaff 

 Eeiuet. Herbert. G-riqualand West. Orange Free State (near the 

 Orange River). 



SESUTO : Moqhiuyetsane. He who crushes a soft thing. The 

 crushed fruits are put into fresh milk to make it sour. At a heathen 

 wedding, the crushed roots are placed on the undigested grass from 

 the stomach of an ox (or oxen) which has been killed for the feast. 

 This rite is supposed to protect the newly married couple from I eing 

 harmed by enemies of the family. 



S. aculeatissimum, Jacq. 



Mountain slopes and plateau. 18-30 in. high, flowers white. 

 March. A. Dieterlen, 887 ! ; Natal, near Van Reenen's Pass, 5500 ft., 

 Wood, 4515. 



DISTRIBUTION : Uitenhage. Humansdorp. Somerset East. Transkei. 

 Pondoland. Natal. 



SESUTO : Thola e meutloa. The round prickly thing. 



S. panduraeforme, E. Mey. 



Slope of the Tsikoane Mountain, Leribe District, and also at Leribe, 

 6-18 in. high, flowers white or violet. Autumn (November). 

 A. Dieterlen, 433 ! (ex parte), 928 ! 713 ! (ex parte} Thaba Unchu, 

 February, Burke, 415 ! 



DISTRIBUTION : Transkei. Tembuland. East Griqualaud. Natal. 



