2. Ph^salis.] 97. SOLANACE.E. 



'l-\-2" in small plants, 1-2' 5" in large plants. Flowers small yellow 

 •2-" 25" long and broad, the corolla often with small spots at the base 

 within. Fruiting calyx subglobose '5-1" long. 



A common weed. Chota Nagpur ! Probably in all districts though not collected. 

 Fl., Pr. Aug.-Dec. 



Leaves pubescent or puberulous. Calyx pubescent or hairy, the teeth not much 

 enlarged in fruit. 



Var. indica, G. B. Clarice, has a laxer habit with leaves usually more 

 entire, calyx often more glabrous, and the fruiting calyx more ovoid 

 with 5 distinct angles or wings. 



2. P. peruviana, L. Tiparee, Vern. ; The Cape Gooseberry. 



A more bushy plant than the last with larger flowers and other 

 characters of the Key. 



Frequently cultivated for its fruit ! 



3. WITHANIA, Panq. 



Shrubs with entire leaves and usually small white or yellowish 

 flowers ckistered in the axils with short pedicels. Calyx campanu- 

 late, 5-toothed, much enlarged and sub-globose in fruit, open or 

 closed. Corolla tubular-campanulate, deeply 3-6-lobed. Stamens 

 at the base of the tube. The rest as in Fhysalis. 



1. W. somnifera, Dun. Asgand, IT. 



An erect weedy-looking shrub or undershrub, 2-4 ft. with sub- 

 tomentose branches, entire ovate sub-obtuse leaves 2-4" with shortly 

 cuneate base and greenish or yellowish flowers S-'o" long fascicled in 

 the leaf axils. Berry "26--S" diam. enclosed in the inflated mem- 

 branous calyx w^hich is 'o-'S" long with very narrow mouth and 

 unaltered lobes. 



Occasional in waste ground. Gaya ! Purneah, Knrz ! FL, Fr. Oct.-May. 



Branches with large pith. Leaves glabrescent. Petiole S-T". Flowers shortly 

 pedicelled with calyx "2" long. 



The root is long, smooth and terete, whitish-brown. It is regarded as tonic and 

 alterative and used in consumption, debility, etc.. Duff. The plant contains a 

 poisonous alkaloid, and the seeds possess, like those of W. eoagidans, the property 

 of coagulating milk. Nadkami. 



4. CAPSICUM, L. Chillee. 



Herbs or undershrubs with simple entire or repand leaves and 

 white, rarely purple solitary or 2-3 axillary flowers. Calyx broadly 

 campanulate, subentire or with 5 small teeth, not or scarcely 

 enlarged in fruit. Corolla rotate, 5-lobed, valvate in bud. Filaments 

 longer than the anthers, inserted at the base of the corolla, anthers 

 dehiscing longitudinally. Berry very variable in form and size, 

 sometimes only 2-celled in the lower part. Seeds discoid smooth or 

 subscabrous. Embryo curved. 



De CandoUe considers that no Capxlcum is indigenous in the Old World and I 

 have never found a CapHictim even appai'ently naturalised in our area. The wild 

 form of C. annuum is not known; he considers its original home in Brazil. 

 C. fridescens has been found wild from the Amazons to Eastern Peru. The 

 following description of varieties is after Bengal Plants -. 



608 



