348 SOLANACE^ 



OrD. LIV. SOLANACEiE. — ThE NIGHTSHADE FAMILY 



A large and highly important Order, containing about 1,000 

 species of herbaceous plants and shrubs, which inhabit most parts 

 of the world except the coldest, and are most abundant within 

 the Tropics. Their leaves are exstipulate and scattered, but occa- 

 sionally appear, owing to adhesion, to spring in pairs ; and the 

 cymose inflorescences are similarly sometimes above the axils of 

 the leaves. The flowers are polysymmetric and pentamerous, 

 rarely 4-merous ; ccdyx inferior, deeply cleft ; corolla hypogynous, 

 gamopetalous, plaited when in bud ; stamens in one whorl, alternate 

 with the petals ; anthers bursting either by terminal pores or by 

 slits down their inner surfaces ; ovary 2-chambered ; style i ; stigma 

 simple; fruit a 2 — 4-chambered capsule or nuculane ; seeds 

 numerous. The prevailing property of the members of this Order 

 is narcotic, and many are, in consequence, highly poisonous. In 

 others, certain parts of the plant have poisonous properties, the 

 rest being harmless, and some even containing a large quantity of 

 nutritious matter. The genus Solarium is a very extensive one, 

 comprising as many as 600 species. First among these in 

 importance stands the Potato {S. tuberosum), a native of Chili, 

 which was introduced into Spain between 1580 and 1585, and 

 into Ireland by Thomas Herriott, who brought it from Virginia in 

 1586. It was first planted on Sir Walter Raleigh's estate at 

 Youghal, CO. Cork, and was cultivated for food in that country 

 long before its value was known in England ; but John Gerard 

 grew it in his garden in Holborn before 1597, the year in which 

 his " Herbal " was published, in the frontispiece to which work he 

 is represented holding a flowering branch of the potato. ^ Its 

 leaves and fruit are narcotic ; but its tubers contain no noxious 

 matter, abounding in an almost tasteless starch, on which account 

 it is less liable to cloy on the palate than any other vegetable food 

 except bread. S. MeUngena, the Egg-plant, a common green- 

 house plant, is remarkable for bearing a fruit of the size and colour 

 of a pullet's egg ; S. Didcamdra, the Woody Nightshade, or 

 Bittersweet, a common English plant, with purple and yellow 

 flowers and scarlet fruit, has narcotic leaves ; and S. nigru7n, a 

 smaller species, common as a weed in England and most other 

 countries, except the coldest, with white flowers and black fruit, 

 is narcotic to a dangerous degree. Atropa Belladonna^ a stout, 

 herbaceous plant, with dingy purple, bell-shaped flowers, is the 

 Deadly Nightshade, so called from the poisonous nature of every 

 part of the plant, especially the fruit, which is large, black, and 

 shining, and of a very attractive appearance. It contains a 



