128 SOLANACEM. [Withania. 



Calyx (in flower) |~£ in., not angular, base truncate ; lobes triangular, 

 acute, nearly equalling the tube, ciliate. Corolla i in. long, clear 

 yellow, or with 5 basal spots inside, limb with very short lobes. Berry 

 §-| in. in diam., completely enclosed within the enlarged membranous 

 5-10-ribbed reticulately-veined calyx. Seeds discoid or reniform, 

 muriculate, orange-yellow. 



Common within the drier portions of the area, usually _ on waste ground. 

 Flowers May — Aug. Distrtb. : Common on the plains of Punjab and 

 Bengal, and in Peninsular India, also: in Ceylon, and up to 7,000 ft. 

 on the outer Himalaya, extending to Afghanistan, Baluchistan and to 

 Tropical Africa and Australia. 



Var. indica, F. B. I. iv, 238 ; Watt F. D. ; Train Beng. PI. 750. P. 

 indica, Lamk. Encycl. ii, 102. The leaves and fruiting calyx are 

 glabrescent, and the latter is distinctly o-angular. The corolla has no 

 basal spots. Common within the area and throughout India in similar 

 situations. 



P. peruviana, Linn. ; Eoxb. El. Ind. i, 562 ; F. B. I.iv, 238 ; Watt E. D. ; 

 Prain Beng. PI. 750 ; Cooke Fl. Bomb, ii, 270.— Yern Tipari. A small 

 shrub, resembling P. minima, but much stouter and with larger 

 flowers and fruit. It is a native of Trop. America, whence it wa9 

 introduced into India and S. Africa, and hence its narr>e of "Cape 

 Gooseberry " by which it is usually known. The plant is much culti- 

 vated in India, and the bright amber-coloured fruit is eaten either raw 

 or cooked. 



3. WITHANIA, Pauq. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. iv, 239. 



Unarmed shrubs. Leaves entire. Flowers axillary, sessile or 

 shortly pedicelled, fascicled or solitary, sometimes polygamo-dicecious. 

 Calyx campanulate, 5- or 6-toothed, enlarged and sub-globose in 

 fruit. Corolla campanulate ; lobes 3-6, short, valvate in bud. 

 Stamens attached near the base of the corolla ; anthers oblong, 

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

 shortly 2-fid. Fruit a globose berry. Seeds very many, discoid, 

 embryo peripheric. — Species 4 or 5, from S. Europe to N. Africa and 

 the Canary Islands, also in W. Asia, 



W. somnifera, Dunal in DC. Prod, xiii, pt. 1, 453 ; F.B.I, iv, 239; 

 Watt E.D.; Gamble Man. Ind. Timb. 50S ; Prain Beng. PL 750 ; Cooke Fl. 

 Bomb, ii, 271 ; Brandis Ind. Trees 490. Physalis somnifera Link ; Royle 

 III. 219 Physalis flexuosa, Linn. ; Boxb. Fl. Ind. i, 561. — Vern. Askand, 

 asind. 



An erect branching undershrub up to 5 ft. high, nearly all parts more or 

 less stellately tomentose ; branches flexuose, terete, densely tomentose. 

 Leaves petioled, 2-4 in. long, ovate, subacute, base acute ; main lateral 

 nerves about 6 pairs, prominent, petioles ?-| in. long. Flowers greenish 

 or lurid-yellow, usually about 5 together in subsessile umbelliform 



