io8 



BRITISH FLOWERING PLANTS 



The lower ones are quite simple, ovate-lanceolate, 

 and the upper ones have at the base 2 small ear- 

 shaped leaflets. The flowers grow towards the 

 ends and at the sides of the shoots, and stand 

 on branching bifurcating stalks, forming irregular 

 clusters. The flowers are dark violet-blue, and 

 each petal of the corolla has 2 green spots towards 

 the base. The fruit is an oval juicy bright scarlet 

 berry. It is poisonous, like most plants of this 

 Order ; and is often mistaken, by those who are 

 not botanists, for the Deadly Nightshade, a much 

 more dangerous plant, which is not nearly so 

 common in Britain. 



The Black Nightshade {Solatium nigrum) is a 

 smaller plant, about a foot high. The flowers 

 are white, with a yellow centre, and much 

 resemble those of the Potato, which is placed by 

 botanists in the same genus. The Black Night- 

 shade is highly poisonous, and the berries are 

 generally black, but varieties with green or red 

 berries are also met with. It is not a climbing 

 plant. It grows on waste ground, or as a garden 

 weed. 



Deadly Nightshade — Atropa Belladonna 



(Plate LXVI) 



This is one of the most poisonous of our British 

 plants, but is by no means so common as formerly. 

 It is met with occasionally, however, on waste, 

 stony, and bushy ground, sometimes growing to 

 the height of 4 or 5 feet, though usually smaller. 

 The leaves are large, oval, and glossy, and the 

 bell-shaped flowers are pale violet, as large as 

 those of the great Campanula figured on Plate LIL, 

 and are enclosed for half their length by the 

 sepals of the calyx. The berry is nearly as large 

 as a cherry, and is likewise enclosed by the calyx. 

 It is green when unripe, and purplish-black 

 when ripe. When many large plants are growing 

 together, in full flower and fruit, they present a 

 beautiful appearance, and I think it not improbable 

 that this was the plant which suggested the deadly 

 shrub described by Aubepine in his story of 

 " Beatrice," better known by Nathaniel Haw- 

 thorne's translation, under the title of " Rappaccini's 

 Daughter." 



