or in groups of several individuals scattered through fields 
of yuca or coca, along the edges of these fields, in clear- 
ings or close to house-sites. Many species of economic 
plants fall into this second category. We might cite, as 
a few examples, the following: Phyllanthus spp., Teph- 
rosia tovicaria Pers. and Clibadium asperum (Aubl.) DC. 
(fish-poisons); Nicotiana Tabacum LL. and Banisteriopsis 
spp. (narcotics): Capsicum frutescens LL. (spice): and 
Herrania nitida (Poepp.) R. E. Schult. (food). 
In wellnigh every Indian agricultural plot in the Co- 
lombian Amazonia, especially along their margins and 
in the immediate vicinity of dwellings, two shrubby spe- 
cies of Solanum are grown for their edible fruits. The 
more abundant of these has been determined as Solanum 
Topiro. We have still not been able satisfactorily to iden- 
tify the second, and, common though it be in the areas 
of Indian agriculture, it may well represent a concept 
hitherto undescribed. The present paper, however, treats 
only of Solanum Topiro. 
It is with pleasure that I acknowledge the very help- 
ful interest of Mr. and Mrs. Kendal Morton of the Mor- 
ton Collectanea (University of Miami) in my attempts 
to identify specimens of this plant which I had brought 
back from Colombia. I have also here to thank Mr. 
Klmer W. Smith, artist at the Botanical Museum of 
Harvard University, who has seen So/ano Topiro in its 
native state in garden-plots in the Colombian Vaupés, 
for his outstanding drawing which was made possible 
through a grant from the National Science Foundation. 
This is the first time that So/anum Topiro has been 
illustrated. 
I] 
It may be well to outline what little we know of the 
history and recent introduction into horticulture of this 
species, 
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