618 



SOLANACE^. 



[Perigynous Exogens. 



Order CCXXXVIII. SOLANACEtE.— Nightshades. 



Solaneffi, Juss. Gen. 124. (1789) ; R. Brown Prodr. 443 ; Bartl. Ord. Nat. 193 ; Schlecht. in Lhmcea, 7. 

 66. (1832); Nees v. Esenbeck in Linn. Trans. 17. 37. (1834).— Solanacese, Ed. Pr. ccxviii. (1836) ; 

 Endl. Gen. cxlviii. ; Meisner, p. 272.— Cestrinae, Martins Conspectus, No. 121. (1835).— Cestracese, 

 Ed. Pr. ccxix.— Retziaceae, Bartl. Ord. Nat. (1830; ; Endl. Gen. p. 669. 



Diagnosis. — Solanal Exogens, vntli 5 free stamens, axile placentce, and a terete emlryo. 



Herbaceous plants or shrubs. Leaves alternate, undivided, or lobed, sometimes col- 

 lateral ; the floral ones sometimes double, and placed near each other. Inflorescence 



Fig. CCCCXYII. 



variable, often out of the axil ; the 

 pedicels without bracts. Calyx 5- 

 parted, seldom 4 -parted, persis- 

 tent, inferior. Corolla monopeta- 

 lous, hypogynous ; the hmb 5-cleft, 

 seldom 4-cleft, regular, or some- 

 what unequal, deciduous ; the 

 aestivation plaited or imbricated, 

 or even valvate. Stamens inserted 

 upon the corolla, as many as the 

 segments of the limb, with which 

 they are alternate ; anthers burst- 

 ing longitudinally, rarely by pores, at the apex. Ovai'y 2-ceUed, composed of a pair of 

 carpels right and left of the axis, rarely 4- 5- or many-celled, vat\\ polyspermous pla- 

 centae ; style continuous ; stigma simple ; o\Tales 00, amphitropal. Pericarp with 2, 

 or 4, or many cells, either a capsule with a double dissepiment parallel with the valves, 

 or a berry with the placentae adhering to the dissepiment. Seeds 00 ; embryo straight 

 or curved, often out of the centre, lymg in fleshy albumen ; radicle near thehiliun. 



The anthers of Solanum open by pores. Nicotiana multivahds has many cells in the 

 capsule, so has Lycopersicou ; Nicandra is 5-celled, Datura 4-celled. 



Brown remarks, that this Order is chiefly known from Figworts by the cm'ved or 

 spiral embryo, the plaited aestivation of the corolla, and the flowers being regular, with 

 the same number of stamens as lobes. Hence the genei'a with a corolla not plaited, and 

 at the same time a straight embr^'o, should, he thmks, either be excluded, or placed in 

 a separate section, along with such as have an imbricated corolla, a shghtly cm'ved em- 

 Fig. CCCCX VII.— Petunia violacea. 1. across section of the ovary ; 2. ripe fruit of Solanum Dulca- 

 mara ; 3. a section of one of its seeds ; 4. flower of Solanum Dulcamara ; 5. a section of itsseed ; 6. pyxis 

 of Hyoscyamus, 



