5. SoLANUM.] 97. SOLANACEJE. 



purple (white, Clarke) -5" long, densely villous outside. Fruit 

 globose \" diam. densely hirsute seated on the calyx, which is '75" 

 diam. in fruit with broadly ovate lobes. 

 Purneah ! Fl. Fr., No v.- Jan. 



7. S. indicum, L. Hanjad, Anjed, K. ; Barhanta, H. ; Baiakur, 



Beng. ; Kantra, Or. 



A stellately tomentose shrub or undershrub 3-6 ft. high with ovate 

 or oblong sinuate or lobed leaves 3-6" by 1-4", grey- or dirty-white 

 tomentose beneath, sub-scabridly stellate above, always more or less 

 prickly on the nerves or mid-rib beneath and with lateral (or at first 

 terminal) simple scorpioid cymes of blue, or sometimes nearly white, 

 flowers -75" diam., 3-11 in a cyme on erecto-patent pedicels finally 

 ■5-'7" long. Berry yellow •3-*35" diam. exceeding the calyx which is 

 not enlarged in fruit. 



In every district, common in waste orround ! Fl., Fr. nearly all the year. 



Stems and branches with yellowish compressed often curved short v'l'ickles, 

 young almost woolly. L. usually acuminate, but side lobes obtuse or rounded, 

 base acute or uneven with the sides rectangular, rarely rounded or straight ; sec. 

 n. about 3-i irregular. Petiole "i-l'S". Cymes usually very far from the axils 

 with a very short peduncle or sessile, sometimes prickly, tomentose ; pedicels 

 thickened upwards. Calyx often prickly, tube very short, lobes '15", lanceolate, 

 spreading in fruit. Corolla tomentose outside, lobes lanceolate. Fil. hardly any, 

 anthers '22" long, attenuate from about half way up. Berry shining. 



The berries are rubbed on the forehead for headache and are also used in 

 Mayurbhanj for cough. 



8. S. torvum, Swartz. Same vernacular names as the last. Bengar 



betahet, S. 

 A tomentose shrub 5-10 ft. high in many respects very similar to 



8. indicum, but usually taller and more erect with fewer more erect 

 branches, leaves without prickles or with one only beneath near the 

 base of midrib, cymes often bifurcate and denser and flowers always 

 white, calyx never armed. Fruit "o" seated on the calyx which is 

 •35-"4" diam. Avith lanceolate lobes. 



Far less common than the last in our area, usually in the damper or cooler 

 districts. Purneah ! Plateaux of Chota Nagpur ! Fl., Fr. most of the year. 



Stems up to 1'' diam. Branches prickly. Leaves up to 9" long, mostly 5-7", 

 sinuate or coarsely lobed, closely stellate tomentose beneath and with shorter sparser 

 stellate hairs above. Cymes 2" diam. or more. Fls. "7-1" diam., corolla stellatelj'^ 

 pubescent at the back or only towards the ends of the lanceolate lobes. Pedicels 

 clavate in fruit, •5-'7" long. The fruit is said to be eaten. 



9. S. melongena, L. Syn. S. esculentum. Dim. ; S. insanum, L. (the 



wild form) ; Dhoko (the Avild plant), Bengar (the cultivated 

 plant), K. ; Baigan, H. ; The Brinjal or Egg Plant. 

 Erect herbaceous, closely covered with short prickles or, in some 

 cultivated forms, completely unarmed. Young parts closely tomen- 

 tose. Leaves large elliptic 4-7" subentire, sinuate or shallowly lobed 

 with rounded lobes. Flowers solitary or several in a cyme with the 

 lowest only fertile, or in the wild plant all fertile, about 1" diam. 

 Calyx 5- 76" long in flower with elliptic or oblong or lanceolate lobes 

 without very broad sinuses between, accrescent in fruit. Berry 



612 



