Solanwn.'] Solanace(B. 235 



A weed in waste ground, roadsides, &c., throughout the island up to 

 6000 ft. Fl. April, May ; violet or purple. 



Throughout Tropical Asia. 



Hermann calls this ' Malabathu,' which is S.ferox, In the mountain 

 region the flowers are larger and more brilliant in colour, and the leaves 

 less lobed. 



The root is much used as a remedy in bronchitis and asthma. The 

 berry is a food in times of scarcity. 



S. Melonge?ta, L. {S. itisantmt, L.) is the 'Wambatu,' Bringal or 

 Egg-plant, much cultivated for its fruit used as a vegetable, and often 

 occurring semi-wild. Its native home is not known. The specimen in 

 Hermann's Herb., Fl. Zeyl. n. 93, is quite without prickles. 



9. S. xanthocarpum, Schrad. ^ Wetidl. Sert. \. 8 (1795). Bla- 

 batu, S. Vaddu, T. 



Herm. Mus. 34. Burm. Thes. 219. Fl. Zeyl. n. 95. S. sodoincEiiin^ 

 L. Sp. PI. 187 (in part); Moon Cat. 16. Thw. Enum. 217. C. P. 1907. 

 Fl. B. Ind. iv. 236. 



Perennial herb, often semi-woody at base, 1-3 ft., stem 

 somewhat zigzag, with numerous divaricate spreading branches, 

 set with scattered straight compressed yellow prickles, younger 

 ones with dense stellate tomentum; 1. 2^-4 in., oblong-oval, 

 rounded and usually unequal-sided at base, obtuse or subacute, 

 shallowly pinnately lobed, stellate-hairy on both sides, espe- 

 cially beneath, with a few straight erect prickles on midrib 

 above and beneath, petiole \-\ in., stellate-tomentose and 

 prickly; fl. rather large, on short curved stellate-hairy ped., 

 cymes usually only i -flowered, extra-axillary, peduncle very 

 short oro; cal. stellate-hairy and with long prickles like those 

 on 1., segm. linear-lanceolate, acute ; cor. about i in. diam., 

 stellate-pubescent outside, lobes very broad, acute; berry i in., 

 surrounded by much -enlarged cal., glabrous and shining, 

 yellow or whitish with green veins, ped. thickened upwards, 

 channelled. 



Var. ^, Jacquini, Thw. I. c. S. Jacquitii^ Willd., Moon Cat. 16. 

 Wight, Ic. t. 1401. C. P. 1905. Katu-wel-batu, S. Kandan- 

 kattari, T. 



Stems nearly glabrous, with more numerous and longer 

 prickles, 1. smaller, deeply lobed, often nearly glabrous, but 

 with very numerous and long sharp bright yellow prickles. 



Very common as a roadside weed, up to 6000 ft. ; var. /3, in the dry 

 region in sandy places. Fl. all the year; bright mauve-purple. 



Throughout Tropical Asia, Australia, and Polynesia. 



Linnaeus's name S. sodoinaum included also an African and Mediter- 

 ranean species, to which it is now generally restricted. The specimen in 

 Hermann's Herb, is in fruit, and referable to var. Jacqui7ii {S. Jacqtnni, 

 Willd.). He gives the S. name 'Tibbuthu' for it, which properly belongs 

 to S. indicuni. The plant is very variable as to size and amount of 

 prickles ; in the type they and the stem are often purple or nearly black. 



