240 The Flora of Wiltshire. 



ORDER. SOLANACEiE. (JTJSS.) 

 SoLANUM, (Linn.) Nightshade. 

 Linn. CI. v Ord. i. 

 Name. From (so/or), I ease, because of its stupifying power. 



1. S. nigrum, (Linn.) black Nightshade, £ngL Bot. t. 556. St. 

 1.4. 



Locality. In cultivated ground, waste places, and by road-sides. 

 A. Fl. July, October. Area, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. In all the Districts, but 

 not general. Leaves stalked, ovate, with coarse angular teeth. 

 Flowers small and white, in little cymes almost contracted into 

 umbels. Berries small, globular, black, or rarely green. This 

 plant is also called the Garden Nightshade, and has had the reputa- 

 tion of being very poisonous. This fact is however disputed by 

 recent inquirers ; and we find Dr. Swain Taylor, in his work oa 

 poisons, denying that the effects of the plant on the system, are in 

 any way as dangerous as they are supposed to be. 



2. S. dulcamara, (Linn), Bitter-sweet, Woody Nightshade. 

 Dulcamara is a Latin substantive, compounded of dulcis, sweet, and 

 amarus, bitter. The roots and stalks of this species upon being 

 chewed, first cause a sensation of bitterness, which is soon followed 

 by a considerable degree of sweetness; while on the contrary, the 

 berry which is at first sweet becomes intensely bitter in the mouth ; 

 whence the English name Bitter-sweet, Fngl. Bot. t. 565. St. 18, 3. 



Locality. In moist hedges and thickets. Shrub, Fl. June, 

 August. Area, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Not uncommon throughout the Dis- 

 tricts.^ Flowers rather small, in loose cymes, blue, with yellow 

 anthers. Berries small, globular or ovoid, and red. In Wiltshire 

 this plant is frequently, but most erroneously, called Deadly 

 Nightshade. This term, however, ought to be applied only to the 

 Airopa Belladonna. 



Atropa, (Linn.) Deadly Nightshade. Dwalb. 



Linn. CI. v. Ord. i. 



Name. From Atropos, the third Fate ; she who was supposed to 



* " Bitter-sweet {dulcamara), with a small blew flower, plenty at Box, (and 

 Market Lavington, in the Withy-bed, belonging to the Vicarage. — Bishop 

 Tanner.)" Aubrey, Nat. EiU. Wilts., p. 50. 



