Datura.] SOLANE^. 



180 



with an inflexed margin. Stamens 5, alternate with the seg- 

 ments. Style I. Stigma 2-lobed ; the lobes toothed. Glands 

 5, hypogynous, alternate with the stamens. Capsule 1-celled, 

 2-valved, many-seeded, (in the floating species indehiscent;) 

 the valves bearing the seeds in their axis. — Leaves simple. 

 R. Br. — Named in compliment to M. de Villars, author of 

 Flore du Dauphine. Pentandria. Monogynia. 



1. V. nymphceoides, Vent. Nymphcea like Villarsia. Leaves 



heart-shaped, wavy at the edges, floating ; corolla fringed. 



Br. Fl. 1. p. 92. Hook, in Fl. Lond. N. S. t. 168.—Menyanthes 



nymphceoides, Linn. — E. Bot. t. 217. 



Naturalized in the Laggan a little above the Belfast Botanic Garden, 



and near Lurgan. Fl. July, Aug. %.— A beautiful plant, and difficult 



to be eradicated. Flowers large, yellow, curiously plaited. 



Ord. 52. SOLANE.E. Juss. Nightshade Family. 



Calyx 5-parted, seldom 4-parted, persistent, inferior. Corolla 

 monopetalous, hypogynous ; the limb 5-cleft, seldom 4-cleft, 

 regular, or somewhat unequal, deciduous ; the aestivation, in 

 the genuine genera of the order, plaited; in the spurious ge- 

 nera, imbricated. Stamens inserted upon the corolla, as many 

 as the segments of the limb, with which they are alternate; 

 one sometimes being abortive. Pericarpium with 2 or 4 cells, 

 either a capsule with a double dissepiment parallel with the 

 valves, or a berry, with the placentae adhering to the dissepi- 

 ment. Seeds numerous, sessile. Embryo more or less curved, 

 often out of the centre, lying in fleshy albumen ; radicle next 

 the hilum. — Herbaceous plants or shrubs. Leaves alternate, 

 undivided, or lobed ; the floral ones sometimes double, and placed 

 near each other. Inflorescence variable, often out of the axilla; 

 the pedicels without bractece. 



The plants of this order are eminently narcotic and exciting, 

 many of them dangerous poisons ; which qualities, however, 

 vary in degree in different individuals : thus, what exists in the 

 Potatoe is dissipated by heat, and the tubers are rendered quite 

 wholesome. 



1. Datura. Linn. Thorn-apple. 



Calyx tubular, ventricose, with 5 angles, 5-toothed, diciduous, 

 leaving behind a broad orbicular base. Corolla funnel- 

 shaped ; the tube long ; the limb with 5 angles, 5 plaits, and 

 5 points. Stamens 5. Stigma of 2 plates. Capsule echinate 

 or smooth, 2-celled ; the cells divided occasionally by spu- 

 rious dissepiments. — Name from its Arabic appellation Ta- 

 torah, (Forskal). In some parts of the East Indies too, it is 

 called Daturo. Pentandria. Monogynia. 



