6Y E. CHKEL. 593 



tlie least poison, and the " Wonderberr\" the most.'' A figure 

 of eacli of the three forms is given, and it is suggested tliat 

 fig. 128, from Mr. Burbank's Wonderberry, is a cross betwef^n 

 -S'. yuiiieense and *S'. villosiim, the latter a native of tlie west 

 coast of America, and the former of Guinea, on the west coast 

 of Africa. 



A further account is given in Gardeners" Chronicle for De- 

 cember 18th, 1909, p. 419, as follows : — " We have received a 

 letter from Mr. J. Lyon Wliittle, Town Clerk of Warrington, 

 enclosing a report from the official analyst for the County 

 Borough of Warrington, Mr. Frederick G. Ruddock. F.T.C., on 

 the result of the chemical analysis of the fruits of " Wonderberry" 

 grown in this country from seed obtained fiom New York. Mr, 

 Ruddock states that he has analysed both the leaves and fruit 

 of this sample of "Wonderberry,' making a special search for 

 the alkaloids atropine and solanine: and he is of the opinion 

 that neither solanine, atropine, or other poisonous alkaloids are 

 present in either leaves or fruit of this sample." 



Solan UM astroitks Forst. 



.Seeds of this were obtained from the Botanic Gardens, Madrid, 

 Spain; and sown under No.31, on 17th Ma\^, 1916. 



It is a rather soft, herbaceous plant, the leaves being quite 

 entire and membranous. Flowers white, succeeded by greenish 

 berries, which become black at maturity. It was originally 

 described by Forster(26) in 1786, from plants collected in the 

 Society Islands by Banks and Solander. Guillemin (36; also 

 quotes Forster\s species from the Society Islands. Seenfann(68j 

 gives this as a synonym of .S. oleraceum Dunal, and states tliat 

 it was collected on Norfolk Island by Milne, and at the Society 

 Islands by Banks k Solander. The local name, according to 

 Seemann, is " Boro ni yaloka ni gata." Seemann further states, 

 "I have also seen it wqld about Sydney," but it seems to me 

 that this is either -S'. jyterocauhm or .S'. opacum, as I have not 

 seen any specimens growing wild about the Sydney district that 

 would agree with .S'. <isti-oites. I have closely examined tlie 

 specimens in the National Herbarium, Sydney, and find that 

 the following may be referred to this species. 



