SOLANACE^. (nightshade FAMILY.) 373 



Order 74. SOLAJN'ACE^:. (Xightshade Family.) 



Herbs (or rarely shrubs), ivith colorless juice and alternate leaves, reqhr 

 lar b-merous and b-androus Jloicers, on bractless pedicels ; the corolla im- 

 bricate or valvate in the bud, aiid mostly plaited ; the fruit a 2-ceUed {rarely 

 3 - 5-celled) many-seeded capsule or berry. — Seeds campylotropous or 

 amphitropous. Embryo mostly slender and curved in fleshy albumen 

 Calyx usually persistent. Stamens mostly equal, inserted on the corolla. 

 Style and stigma single. Placenta in the axis, often projecting far into 

 the cells. (Foliage rank-scented, and with the fruits mostly narcotic, 

 often very poisonous, while some are edible.) — A large family in the 

 tropics, but very few indigenous in our district. It shades off into Scro- 

 phulariaceae, from which the plaited regular corolla and 5 equal stamens 

 generally distinguish it. 



* Corolla wheel-shaped, 5-parted or 5-lobed; the lobes valvate and their margins usually 

 turned inward in the bud. Anthers eonnivent. Fruit a berry. 



1. Solanum. Anthers opening by pores or chinks at the tip. 



* * Corolla various, not wheel-shaped, nor valvate in the bud. Anthers separate. 



t- Fruit a berry, closely invested by an herbaceous (not angled) calyx. 



2. Chaiuaesaracha. Corolla plicate, 5-angulate. Pedicels solitary, recurved in fruit. 

 H- ■*- Fruit a berry, enclosed in the bladdery-inflated calyx. Corolla widely expanding. 



3. Physalis. Calyx 5-cleft. Corolla 5-lobed or nearly entire. Berry juicy, 2-ceUed. 



4. Nicandra. Calyx 5-parted. Corolla nearly entire. Berry dry, 3 - 5-celled. 



■t- H- ^- Fruit a berry with the unaltered calyx persistent at its base. 



5. Liycium. Corolla funnel-form or tubular, not plaited. Berry small, 2-celled, 



t- H- f- -^ Fruit a capsule. 



6. Hyoscyamns. Calyx urn-shaped, enclosing the smooth 2-eelled capsule, which opens 



by tVie top falling off as a lid. Corolla and stamens somewhat irregular. 



7. Datura. Calyx prismatic, 5-toothed, Capsule prickly, naked, more or less 4-celled, 



4-valved. Corolla funnel-form. 



8. Nlcotiana. Calyx tubular-bell-shaped, 5-cleft. Capsule enclosed in the calyx, 2-celled. 



1. SOLANUM, Touru. Nightshade. 



Calyx and wheel-shaped corolla 5-parted or .5-cleft (rarely 4- lO-parted), the 

 latter plaited in the bud, and valvate or induplicate. Stamens exserted ; fila- 

 ments very short; anthers converging around the style, opening at the tip 

 by two pores or chinks. Berry usually 2-celled. — Herbs, or shrubs in warm 

 climates, the larger leaves often accompanied by a smaller lateral (rameal) 

 one; the peduncles also mostly lateral and extra-axiliary. — Avast genus, 

 chiefly in warmer regions, including the Potato (S. tuber6sum) and the 

 Egg-plaxt (S. MELOxoiiXA) ; while the Tomato (Lycopersicum escu- 

 lentum) is closely related. (Name of unknown derivation.) 



* Not prickly ; anthers blunt ; flowers and globose naked berries sm':^ll. 



•1- Perennial, climbing or twining. 



S. DulcamXka, L. (Bittersweet.) More or less pubescent; leaves 

 ovate-heart-shaped, the upper lialbercbshaped, or with two ear-like lobes or 

 leaflets at base ; flowers (purple or blue) in small cymes ; berries oval, red. — 

 Moist banks and around dwellings. June -Sept. (Nat. from Eu.) 



