SOLANUM macrantherum. 

 Large-anthered Bitter-sweet. 



PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 

 Nat. ord. Solanace^e. 

 SOLANUM, Botanical Register, vol. l.fol. 71, 



S. macrantherum ; caule scandente lignoso fruticoso, foliis petiolatis ovatis 

 acutis subtus tomentosiusculis, racemis paniculatis laxis. Bunal, Solan. 

 p. 16. n. 81. R'omer fy Schultes, 4. 596. Bentham PL Hartweg. no. 36/. 



S. dulcamaroides. Poir. encycl. meth. suppl. iii. 750. 



Suffrutex pilosus, suhscandens, pluripedalis. Folia ovato-cordata, acuta, 

 mollia, omnia reniformia et indivisa. Paniculse terminates, laxce, multifiorce, 

 pedunculis bisbijidis. Calyx 5-angularis. Corolla fere sesquiunciam lata, 

 intus atropurpurea, extus violacea, annulo faucis pallido. Antherse ratione 

 corollce magnce, lutece, breves, obesce : inferiore majore. 



A fine half-shrubby greenhouse plant, with large clusters 

 of deep purple flowers, whose centre is occupied by a knot of 

 large bright yellow anthers. It is nearly allied to the bitter- 

 sweet of our hedgerows, but its flowers are very much larger, 

 and handsomer. 



For its introduction we are indebted to Mr. Page, nursery- 

 man, Southampton, who writes of it thus : — 



" Sept. 24, 1840. The Solanum is growing vigorously, 

 and promises to be arborescent. It was kept during the last 

 winter in a conservatory. I received the seeds in July, 1888, 

 from Mexico, from Mr. Parkinson ; they were sown late in 

 the autumn, and many of the plants damped off. That which 

 flowered is now about three feet high, with several branches, 

 and fine large leaves. It is a very beautiful plant, and I 

 expect will produce an abundance of flowers from its vigour- 

 ously growing shoots. 



In Mexico the plant scrambles up any thing it may be 

 near, just as happens to the English Bitter- sweet, and this 

 February, 1841. d 



