Soiantan.] Solaiiacecs. 233 



subacute ; berry J in., covered with small, scattered, stellate 

 hairs, yellow; seed minutely shagreened. 



Moist region, 1000-6000 ft., common. Fl. June, July, &c.; dull white. 



Throughout the Tropics. 



Roots and leaves used in native medicine. S. aurkulaium, Ait., 

 appears to differ only by the possession in the leaf-axils of a pair of small 

 leaves simulating stipules. It is C. P. 3525, and perhaps only a garden 

 •escape here ; the name is not mentioned in Fl. B. Ind. 



5. S. g'ig'aiiteuni, y<zr$^. Collect, iv. 125 (1790). 

 Moon Cat. 16. Thw. Enum. 216. C. P. 1903. 

 Fl. B. Ind. iv. 233. Wight, Ic. t. 893. 



A shrub, stem 6-12 ft, stout, branches few, erect, densely 

 tomentose, with close stellate hair and with a few small com- 

 pressed straight prickles; 1. large, 6-9 in., oblong-lanceolate, 

 tapering to both ends, often unequal-sided at base, entire, 

 glabrous above (when young, scurfy with stellate hair), quite 

 white, with fine stellate tomentum beneath, petiole i-i| in., 

 tomentose ; fl. numerous, rather small, on short, nodding, 

 tomentose ped., cymes extra-axillary, often apparently ter- 

 minal, corymbose-paniculate, tomentose, peduncle short, stout ; 

 cal. flocculently stellate-tomentose, lobes short, triangular ; 

 cor. |- in. diam., lobes oblong-lanceolate, acute; berry \ in., 

 supported on enlarged cal., smooth, scarlet. 



Forests of the montane zone, 3000-7000 ft., common. Moons locality 

 is Maturata. Fl. Feb. ; pale purple. 



Also in mountains of S. India, and in S. Africa. 



6. S. ferox, L. Sp. PL ed. 2, 267 (1762). Blalabatu, S. 



Moon Cat. 16. Thw. Enum. 216. C. P. 2868. 

 Fl. B. Ind. iv. 233. Wight, Ic. t. 1399. 



A large herb, stem stout, very densely covered with long, 

 coarse, stalked, stellate hairs, and armed with numerous 

 straight slender prickles; 1, usually 2 at a node and unequal, 

 large, 6-10 in., broadly oval in outline, pinnately cut into few 

 large acutely triangular lobes, softly stellate-hairy on both 

 sides (especially beneath), and with long erect yellow prickles 

 on the veins; fl. large, on short stellate-tomentose ped., 2-6 

 in leaf-opposed cyme, peduncle very short, with few prickles ; 

 cal. shaggy with long stellate hair, slightly enlarged in fruit, 

 segm. ovate, acute; cor. i^ in. diam., very hairy outside, lobes 

 lanceolate, acute; berry surrounded at base by cal., f in., very 

 densely clothed with long yellow bristly hair. 



Low country and up to 4000 ft., rather common ; sometimes cultivated. 

 Fl. Jan. ; white. 



Also in India, Burma, and China. 



The ripe fruit is eaten, according to Thwaites. The root is used as a 

 'remedy in cutaneous diseases. 



