SoLANALEs.] SOLANACEyE. 619 



bryo, aud didynamous stamens. It does not, however, appear necessary to separate the 

 latter as a distinct Order, but it is better to understand them as genera passing uito the 

 condition of Figworts, which are in fact nothing l)ut unsymmetrical Nightshades. In 

 reahty, the Nightshades are the equivalent, in the Solanal AUiancc, of the Figworts 

 among Bignonials ; and these two Alliances are brought into dh-ect contact by means of 

 the Orders in question, although, in a lineal arrangement, they may not follow each 

 other. It is quite certain, I think, that no other distinction between Nightshades and 

 Figworts exists, for the curved embryo of the former, although remarkable in many in- 

 stances, is not at all to be depended upon, because the nature of the emljryo varies in 

 very nearly alhed species. Thus in Petunia nyctaginiflora is found the common cui-ved 

 and twisted embryo of Nightshades ; but in Petunia violacea, the seeds of which cannot 

 be externally distinguished from those of the latter, not even when lying side by side 

 upon the field of the microscope, the embryo is perfectly straight and much shorter ; in 

 Salpiglossis straminea the embryo is curved and partly spiral ; yet in all other charac- 

 ters the genus agrees with Figworts : finally, in Nicotiana persica, which no one can 

 doubt being a genuine species of Nightshade, the embryo is nearly straight. We there- 

 fore are obhged to conclude that a false impoitance has been given to this, as it cer- 

 tainly has to a gi'eat many other microscopic characters ; a truth which has not escaped 

 the acuteness of Fries. I do not, however, conceive that Figworts and Nightshades 

 ought really to stand m the same Alliance, because the latter have a manifest tendency 

 to lose the dicarpellary structure of the former, as is seen in Nicandra, which has 5 cells, 

 and in the many-celled Lycopersicons and Nicotianas. No such tendency occurs in the 

 Bignonial Alliance. 



The most immediate affinity of Nightshades seems to be ^vith Ohveworts and Bind- 

 weeds, to the latter of which tlieu' numerous t\\inii7g species bring them very close, while 

 the first division of the Order stands on the very threshold of Oliveworts. Compare, for 

 instance, Sj-ringa and Cestrum. At the same time several collateral affinities are ex- 

 tremely well marked. That of Figworts has ah'eady been mentioned. Bellworts are 

 approached by Trechontetes, whose stamens are scarcely epipetalous. Grabowskya, of 

 Schlechtendahl, is considered by that author to be a transition between Nightshades and 

 Borageworts. He, however, regards its affinity to Lycium undoubted, and points out 

 its near i-elation to Nolana. (See LinncBCi, 7. 71). Mr. Walker Arnott indicates its 

 difference from Nightshades in the small number of its seeds. — lAnncea, 11. 486. No- 

 lanads are also close to Grabowskya, and would very well stand in the Solanal AUiance 

 if their fruit were not nucamentaceous. 



Natives of most parts of the world without the arctic and antarctic circles, especially 

 within the tropics, in which the mass of the Order exists, in the form of the genera 

 Solanum and Physalis. The number of species of the former genus is very great in 

 tropical America, and the wdiole amount to twice as many as all the other co-ordinates. 



At first sight this Order seems to offer an exception to that general correspondence 

 in stmctm'e and sensible qualities which is so characteristic of well defined Natui*al 

 Orders, containing as it does the deadly Nightshade and Henbane, and the wholesome 

 Potato and Tomato ; but a Uttle mquhy will explain this apparent anomaly. The 

 leaves and berries of the Potato are narcotic ; it is only its tubers that are wholesome 

 when cooked. This is the case with other succulent miderground stems in equally 

 dangerous families, as the Cassava among Spurgeworts ; besides which, as De Caudolle 

 justly observes — " II ne faut pas perdre de vue que tous nos alimens renferment una 

 petite dose d'un principe excitant, qui, s'il y etait en plus grande quantite, pouiTait 

 etre nuisible, mais qui y est ne'cessaire pour leur servir de condiment naturel." The 

 leaves of all are in fact narcotic and exciting, but in different degi'ees, from Atropa 

 Belladonna, which causes vertigo, convulsions, and vomiting, Tobacco, which will fre- 

 quently produce the first and last of these sjTnptoms, Henbane and Stramonium, down 

 to some Solanums, the leaves of which are used as kitchen herbs. The various species 

 may be classed according as they are, 1, narcotic or otherwise poisonous ; 2, tonic ; 

 3, dim'etic ; 4, pungent ; 5, bland or inert. 1. As to poisonous species, the worst of 

 these is perhaps the Acocanthera venenata, a large bush with fragrant flowers, found 

 at the Cape of Good Hope ; a decoction of the bark, reduced to the thickness of jelly, 

 is used by the Hottentots to envenom their weapons. It is said to be a fatal poison, 

 and to be also used by the same people to destroy wild beasts, by impregnating baits of 

 flesh with its juice. Similar quahties have been recognised in the Cesti'ums macro- 

 phyllum and nocturnum. Others, however, more familial- to Europeans, can hardly be 

 regarded as inferior in virulence. The Thorn-apple (Datura Stramonium) is a violent 

 narcotic when taken internally ; in skilful hands it is a valuable medicine in mania, 

 epilepsy, convulsions, tic-douloureux, &c ; it palliates the distressing paroxysms of pure 

 spasmodic asthma, when smoked. Datura Tatula and Metel have a similar action ; the 

 latter is used by Orientals as an opiate, the former is said to be nmeh more energetic 



