86 SOLANUM. No. 86 



No. 86. SOLANUM DULCAMARA, 



Names, Bitter-sweet Nightshade. Fr* Solane dou- 



ceaniere- Vulgar. Bitter-sweet Vine, Nightshade Vine, 

 Violet bloom, Scarlet Berry. 



Classify Nat- Order of Lurides. Pentandria mono- 



gynia L. 



Genus Solanuk- Calyx five cleft, persistent. Co- 

 rolla rotate, five cleft. Stamens five, anthers coherent, 

 with two pores above. One pistil, style and stigma. 

 -Berry two celled, many seeded. 



Spl Solarium dulcamara. L. Stem shrubby, twining, 

 Inerme, flexuose : leaves ovate, subcordate, commonly 

 with two auricles at the base : panicles cymose. 



DESCRIPTION. Woody vme, creeping or climbing 

 to the extent of five or six feet, base woody, end or last 

 shoots herbaceous, flexuose, without thorns, smooth, te- 

 rete. Leaves alternate, petiolate, ovate acute, entire, base 

 subcordate, and often with one or two small lobes like 

 auricles at the base, with obtuse sinusses. Flowers on 

 peduncles opposed to the leaves, bearing a loose cluster 

 or cymose panicle of many flowers, of a pretty violet 

 color, with yellow anthers- Calyx small, acute- Corolla 

 nearly five parted, segmeats acute, ovate, lanceolate, 

 each with two whitish dots or glands at the base, often 

 reiiexed. Filaments very short, anthers erect, forming 

 a yellow conical tube. Pistil oval, style filiform, exert 

 stigma obtuse, simple. Berries oval, of a bright scarlet 



HISTORY. The genus S'o/anwm includes a. multi- 

 tude of species of opposite characters and properties, 

 very wrongly blended by Linneeus, who abolished the 

 genera Lycopersicon^ Melongena^ &c. of Tournefort. 

 They must be re-established, and the whole genus re- 

 vised ; the following genera must be separated at least: 



I. Lycopersicon, Calyx and corolLl, 6 to 12 parted, 

 and stamens from six to twelve. Berry multilocuiar. The 

 tomato belongs here and S.ftrgax, &c. 



3. Melongena. Calyx unequal, three to six cleft- 

 Corolla campanulate, four to six cleft. Stamens four to 

 six, equal. Berry spongv. S. rnelongeno. S. stelia- 



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