A GROUP OF WESTERN AMERICAN SOLANUMS. 



BY S. B. PARISH. 



The first notice in botanical literature of any of the group 

 of Solanums which is the subject of the present paper was 

 in 1826, when in the Memoirs of the Academy of St. 

 Petersburg the name Solamtm umbelhferuni was bestowed 

 by Eschscholtz on a plant from " Nova California." As 

 the original description is not easily accessible, a transcrip- 

 tion of it, for which I am indebted to Dr. J. N. Rose, is 

 subjoined in the foot-note.^ 



The floral characters here assigned are common to a whole 

 series of plants that the student of Californian botany finds 

 it unsatisfactory to unite, and as difficult to separate on 

 stable lines ; nor are the vegetative characters defined with 

 sufficient accuracy to enable one to determine which of these 

 plants the author had in hand. 



V 14. Solanum umbellifeFum ^5r/!. 



Solanum umbelliferiim EsCH., Mem. Acad. Petersb., Vol. X, 1826, p. 283. 



"(Inerme, foliis integerrimis, calycibus quinquedivisis, statninibus aquali- 

 bus, inflorescentia lerminali.) 



"Caule suffruticoso, erecto, foliis ovalibus, acutis, integerrimis, pubescenti- 

 bus; umbellis terminalibus. 



"In fruticetis Novce Californise. 



''Caulis orgyalis, suffruticosus, fistulosus, angulatus, pubescens; ramis sub- 

 herbaceis, nutantibus, tomentoso pubescentibus. 



^' Folia alterna, petiolata, ovalia, acuta, integerrima, utrinque pubescentia, 

 vix pollicaria, caulina interdum late ovata sesquipoUicaria. 



'^Flores terminales umbellati; umbella plerumque quadriflora, interdum bi- 

 vel-triflora; involucrum parvum urceolare, integrum, pubescens; pedunculi 

 ^equales, elongati, pubescentes. Calyx urceolaris quinquefidus pubescens, 

 laciniis acutis. Corolla calyce triplo major, dilute violacea, quinquetida, 

 extus pubescens. Antherae flavse. 



"Bacca magna purpurea." 



The ^^ involucrum parvum'' is, of course, the organ better designated by 

 Dr. Gray in the Synoptical Flora as a "cupulate node" at the insertion of the 

 pedicels on the peduncle. 



^ [igg] October 23, 1901. 



