Solanum. | SOLANAC 2. 481 
An immense genus, abundant in all tropical countries and especially so 
in tropical America, rarer in temperate regions. Species probably over 800. 
Herbaceous, 1-3 ft. vie Leaves ovate. Flowers small, 
3-4 in. diam. -. 1. S. nigrum. 
Shrubby, 4-8 ft. high. Leaves lanceolate, often aa creet 
fid. Flowers large, # in. diam. .. 2. S. aviculare. 
S. sodom@um, Linn., a spinous species with stellate pubescence, pinnati- 
fid leaves, and rather large globose yellow berries, has become naturalised in 
many localities between the North Cape and Tauranga. So also has S. awricu- 
latum, Ait., an unarmed densely woolly species with large leaves furnished with 
a pair of roundish auricles near the base of the petioles. The common potato 
(S. tuberosum, Linn.) often lingers for a time in places where it has been 
cultivated. 
1. S. nigrum, Linn. Sp. Plant. 186.—Erect, herbaceous from a 
somewhat woody base, glabrous or pubescent, 1-3 ft. high ; branches 
‘spreading, angular, the angles sometimes minutely tuberculate. 
Leaves on slender petioles; blade 14-3in. long, ovate or ovate- 
rhomboid, acute or acuminate, narrowed into the petiole, entire or 
coarsely and irregularly toothed, membranous. Flowers small, 
white, drooping, 4 in. diam., in small umbellate 5-8-flowered cymes ; 
peduncles slender, supra- -axillary. Calyx 5-lobed to the middle. 
Corolla deeply 5- lobed. Berry +-4 in. diam., globose, black or red. 
Raoul, Choix, 43; Hook. f. Fl. “Nov. Zel. i. 189; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 
200 ; Benth. Fl. Austral. iv. 446. 
Kermapsec Istanps, NortH anp SoutH IsLANDS, CHATHAM ISLANDS: 
Not uncommon as far south as central Otago. Sea-level to 2000 ft. A 
common weed in almost all parts of the world. 
2. S. aviculare, Forst. Prodr. n. 107.—A leafy unarmed soft- 
wooded bush or shrub 4-8 ft. high, perfectly glabrous in all its parts ; 
branches spreading, smooth or marked with raised lines decurrent 
from the petioles. Leaves alternate, petiolate, very variable in size 
and shape, 4-12 in. long or even more, lanceolate or linear-lanceo- 
late and entire, or irregularly pinnatifidly lobed with 1-3 spreading 
lanceolate acute lobes on each side, membranous, glabrous, main 
veins spreading at right angles. Cymes 1-3 in the axils of the 
upper leaves or lateral, shorter than the leaves, few- or many- 
flowered. Flowers 3-lin. diam., purplish or white. Calyx-lobes 
short, broad, obtuse. Corolla shortly and broadly 5-lobed. Fila- 
ments as long as or longer than the anthers; anthers oblong, 
spreading, opening at the tips by transverse slits which are usually 
continued down the sides. Berry broadly ovoid, 2-1 in. long, 
drooping, yellowish.— A. Rich. Fl. Nowv. Zel. i. 1938; Hook. f. Fl. 
Nov. Zel. i. 182; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 200; Benth. Fl. Austral. iv 
447. S. laciniatum, Azt. Hort. Kew, ed. 1, 247; A. Cunn. Precur. 
n. 386; Raoul, Choiz, 43. 
16—F I. 
