Physalis.] SOLANACEM. 127 



races are recognized according to the shape or colour of the fruit. The 

 plant is more or less prickly ucoording to tho nature of the soil. In rich 

 garden soil the prickles almost or entirely disappear. When cultivated 

 as a field crop it becomes rather prickly, and very much so as an eeoape, 

 under which conditions the peduncles bear 3-4 small and usually roun- 

 dish fruits. Prain mentions two varieties : 1. esculenta (8. longum, 

 Roxb.). a stout prickly herb with the fruit always cylindrical, and, accor- 

 ding to Roxburgh, a distinct species ; and 2. insana. (8. insanum, 

 Roxb) which is a very prickly herb found in a semi-wild state near 

 villages. Its fruit is quite round, and the fruiting peduncles usually 

 bear more than one. The fruit of tho egg-plant is always eaten cooked. 

 Its value as a vegetable is increased by its ooming into season during 

 the autumn months when other kinds are scarce. The leaves possess 

 narcotic properties, and the seeds are regarded as stimulant. See also 

 Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. 556 ; D. C VOrig. PL Cult. 229. .Field and Oard.; Crops 

 N. IF. Prov. and Oudh,part Hi, 31, t. 95 ; F. B. I. iv, 235 ; Watt E. D.; 

 Comm. Prod. Ind.; Prain Beng.Pl. 746 ; Cooke Fl. Bomb, ii, 269. 



Solanum tuberosum, Linn. The Potato. Vern. Alu. A native of tem- 

 perate regions in S. America. Introduced into Europe during the six- 

 teenth century it reaohed India in the early portion of the seven- 

 teenth century. Largely cultivated within the area of this flora and on 

 the neighbouring parts of the Himalaya. Acclimatized varieties are sown 

 in the plains from about the middle of September, and the hill kinds 

 and those imported from Europe later on. For further information 

 see DC. L'Orig. PI. Cult, 36 ; F. $ 0. Crops N. W. Prov. and Oudh, Tart 

 Hi, 15 : Watt E. D. ; Comm. Prod. India . 



2. PHYSALIS Linn. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. iv, 238. 



Annual or perennial herbs. Leaves alternate, entire, sinuate or 

 shortly lobed. Flowers solitary, axillary, pedicelled. Calyx cara- 

 panulate, 6-fid., much enlarged in fruit and loosely enclosing the berry; 

 teeth small, connivent. Corolla campanulate, lurid-yellow, often 

 with purple spots near the base. Stamens 5, attached near the 

 base of corolla ; anthers oblong, shorter than the filaments, dehiscing 

 longitudinally. Ovary 2-celled, style linear, stigma obscurely 

 2-lobed. Fruit a globose berry. Seeds many or few, compressed, 

 smooth or faintly tuberculate, embryo peripheric. — Species about 30, 

 mostly tropical American. 



P. minima, Linn. Bp. PI. 183 ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. i, 563; F. B. I. iv, 

 238; Watt E. D. ; Collett Fl. 8iml. 343; Prain Beng. PL 750 ; Cook 

 Fl. Bomb. ii,270.—Vern. Ban-tipariya. 



Annual. Stem erect, 6-18 in. high, striate, more or less pubescent and 

 often viscid. Leaves potioled, thin, \-2\ in. long, ovate, acute, sinuate- 

 toothed or almost lobel, more or loss pubescent, base cuneato, petioles 

 about 1 in. long. Flowers solitary, on long slender deflexed pedicels. 



