196' ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN BOTANY- 



and expresses as liis opinion, that 

 seems to be with Oliveworts (OleaceceJ 



Lindley adds the Olives and Asclepiadem to his alliance, 



"the most immediate affinity of Nightshades (Solanew) se€ 



and Bindweeds (Convolvulacece) ; to the latter of which their numerous twining species bring 



them very close, while the first division of the order stands on the very threshold of Oleacece. 



Compare, for Instance, Syringa with CestrumJ*'* 



Regarding this view of their affinities I can offer no opinion of my own, as the poverty 

 <>f my Herbarium does not permit me to make the comparison here called for ; but it certainly 

 seems rather odd that this view has not suggested itself to any other Botanist. That, however, 

 does not militate in the slightest degree against the correctness of Lindley's views. I have, 

 however, compared the characters of the two genera, and also Gaertner's figures of them, and, after 

 allowing for an error in the last, confess that, so far as such evidence enables me to advance, 

 I can trace no relationship between these orders any more than the Botanists whose writings 

 on the subject I have consulted ; neither does the relationship between this order and Asclepia- 

 decB strike me. But while I would thus exclude these two orders from the Solanal group, I 

 now fully coincide with the accomplished author in considering that Solaiiaceoc and Scrophu- 

 lariaceas ought not to stand in the same alliance ; not however ''because of the manifest 

 tendency of the former to lose the dicarpellary structure, as seen in Nicandra^ Lyropersicum^ and 

 Nicotianas^ for that I conceive remains to be established in all those genera ; but because of the 

 manifest tendency to regularity and symmetry of the former, and to irregularity of the latter. 

 Such a tendency (to multiplication of carpels) certainly does not exist in Datura^ and my 

 examination of Nicandra does not confirm the accuracy of Gsertner's figure which I find incorrect, 

 as representing a perfect 4;-carpellary structure which does not exist in the specimens of that 

 plant I examined. My reason for adopting Dr. Lindley''s view is based on the regular symmetrical 

 flowers of the one, and the irregular unsymmetncal ones of the other. On this I place greater 

 reliance than on characters taken from either the ovary or embryo, though I am aware there 

 is a tendency in several ScrophulariacecB to become regular, but in all such cases except, 

 perhaps, the Verbasicums^ with little disposition to become symmetrical. 



The immediate affinities then of this order are, on the one side, with Scrophulariacce^ and 

 on the other with Hydrokacece, 



r 



Geographical Distribution. This order has a wide range, extending from the tropics 

 through both the temperate zones, but is most abundant in the warmer regions of the Earth. 

 in America they are very abundant, especially species of the genera Solarium and Fhysalis, 

 the number of whose species greatly exceed the aggregate of all the others put together. In 

 India, though ^ Solaneos are common as respects individuals, they are few as regards species, 

 but have a wide range, every part of the country being more or less thickly studed with 

 them, frona Cape Comorin to the Himalayas, and in the Peninsula from the coast to the tops 

 of the highest mountains. They equally inhabit the humid low-grounds and the more elevated 

 parched ones. On the plains they are usually herbs or small shrubs, on the mountains several 

 species of Solanum become small trees. 



If 



Properties and Uses. Regarding these much might be said, as many exotic species 

 merit extended notice on account of both their good and bad qualities ; but I shall principally 

 conhne ray remarks to the Indian species, a few only of which are in use, and those not 

 generally possessed of very energetic qualities. Generally the whole family may be set down as 

 very suspicious, so many of them being known to be endowed with virulently narcotic and 

 acrid properties, and so few in which those of an opposite character are found. Among the 

 latter we have m this country the common Brinjal, Solanum Melongena, which, under cultivation, 

 nas become a common and, among the natives, a much prized esculent ; but which is unfit for 

 «r+r f T 'rl ,®,r- *°, ^^'^ ^^ ^" °*^°3^ ^^^^"^ ^'ases destroying the inherent bad qualities 

 1 fla -W -1 1. • *f •* .^ '*'' ^^P^ gooseberry, Physalis Peruviana, now a perfect weed 



sS-plv .«Vin f T,"f and other cool climates, is another esculent, but whose ripe fruit may be 

 /«I^ 'n I 11 fi T ^^e^'^sh; and lastly the Tomata or Love-apple, Lycopersicum esculen- 

 tum-.o called "m aUusion to the supposed power they possess of exciting the tender feelings" 



