DICOTYLEDONS II5 



They generally have a milky juice and an acrid 

 taste, so that cattle will not touch them. Pigs 

 have been known to eat the roots of the white- 

 flowered hedge convolvulus, with bad results. 

 In fact all of our three wild species, the one men- 

 tioned, the Lesser Bindweed, and the Calystegia of 

 our sandy sea-shores, have all an actively cathartic 

 principle. 



It may be added that the popular remedy 

 " Jalap " is the root of a Mexican species, deriving 

 its name from the town Xalapa. 



On the other hand,, the Sweet Potato largely 

 imported from Spain before the true potato was 

 introduced in the sixteenth century, is another 

 member of the family {Batatas edidis), the name 

 giving rise to " potato," which belongs to a totally 

 different family. 



One genus called Dodder {Cnscutd) is parasitic, 

 resembling yellow threads bearing globular tufts 

 of flowers ; it is frequent on gorse, clover, etc. The 

 species partake of the same properties as Con- 

 volvulus. 



Potato ¥ amily {Solanacece). — Four genera repre- 

 sent this family in Great Britain, all of them being 

 poisonous ; viz. Henbane, Deadly Nightshade or 

 Belladonna, Woody Nightshade, and the Black- 

 fruited Solanum. The Thorn-apple was introduced 

 from North America. 



Woody Nightshade, or Bittersweet {Sola- 



