66 THE WILD-FLOWERS OF SELBORNE 



flora is the Solanacecs, or Nightshade family. To this 

 same order belong, strange to sa}', the potato, first 

 brought to England from Virginia by Sir Walter 

 Raleigh in 1586, and the tomato-plant. But four 

 species of this large and important family can claim 

 to be British, although one other, the thorn-apple, has 

 found its way over from America, and is now fre- 

 quently met with, as at Portchester, in a semi-wild 

 state. These four species are the dwale, or deadly 

 nightshade; the henbane; and the two common night- 

 shades, sometimes distinguished as the woody night- 

 shade and the garden nightshade. These last species, 

 which are closely allied to each other, though often 

 confounded, at least in name, with the deadly night- 

 shade, are far less poisonous, and, unlike their more 

 dangerous relative, are common plants, being fre- 

 quently met with in waste places, by the roadside, 

 and as a weed in gardens. In appearance they are 

 entirely different from the deadly nightshade, and it 

 is strange that they should ever have been con- 

 founded. The woody nightshade, or bittersweet, is 

 a long, straggling plant, of untidy habit, which may 

 be often seen climbing among bushes by the wayside, 

 and is well marked by its purple flowers with yellow 

 anthers, which are followed by clusters of scarlet 

 berries. Its near relation, the black or garden night- 

 shade, is a common weed in cultivated ground, having 

 small white flowers, resembling those of the last 

 species in form and also in the colour of the anthers, 

 but succeeded by black berries. The deadly night- 

 shade {Atropa Belladonna, L.), on the other hand, is a 

 tall and stately plant, often three and even four feet 

 in height, with large pubescent, egg-shaped leaves, 

 and solitary, drooping, campanulate flowers of a dull 



