182 FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. [ Convolvulacea. 
One of the largest genera of plants, but in a great measure confined to the Tropical regions, especially of South 
America. The wild Potato is, however, extratropical, being a native of the humid coasts of Chili, where the produc- 
tion of tubers does not appear to be a constant character, but one depending on local causes, and increased very much 
in degree by cultivation. There are a great many (about thirty) species in Australia, but only one in Tasmania, the 
S. laciniatum of New Zealand, except the S. nigrum, now equally abundant there and here, be included. The latter 
is a plant that is now universally diffused in all temperate and tropical latitudes, and is certainly indigenous to 
many and transported into others. It swarms about the Bay of Islands, Auckland, and all the settlements, and I 
find it in Banks and Solander’s collections.—The New Zealand Solana may be readily recognized by their herbaceous 
habit, the stems woody at the base only, alternate exstipulate leaves, cymose nodding flowers, often rising from the 
stem above the leaf (to whose axil they are referable, the peduncle being connate with the stem). Calyx and corolla 
five-lobed, the latter plaited, rotate, or bell-shaped. Stamens five, with short filaments and long anthers, conniving 
and forming a cone. Fruit a two-celled, many-seeded berry. (Name of doubtful origin.) 
1. Solanum aviculare, Forst. ; herbaceum, basi fruticosum, glabrum, foliis lineari-lanceolatis integris v. 
pinnatifidis laciniis elongatis, racemis axillaribus ramisve lateralibus corymbosis simplicibus v. divisis, 
calyce breviter v. ad medium 5-fido, corolle lobis emarginatis obtusisve, baccis ovoideis. Forst. Prodr. A. 
Rich. Flor. Solanum laciniatum, Hort. Kew. Br. Prodr. Bot. Mag.t. 349. S.lanceum, Banks et Sol. 
MSS. et Ic. 
Has. Throughout the Islands. Common in woods, Banks and Solander, etc. Nat. name, ** Poro- 
poro” in the northern, and ** Kohoho " in the southern parts of the Islands, Co/. (Cultivated in England.) 
A herb with shrubby stems, 2—5 feet high, and green leaves 4 inches to a foot or so long, petiolate, linear- 
lanceolate, or ovate and pinnatifid. Cymes axillary or on the branches, eight- to ten-flowered. Flowers very variable 
in size, $-1 inch across the corolla, which is purplish. Berry egg-shaped, yellow, eaten with avidity by birds and 
the natives. —Cook’s sailors ate it on the faith of the birds not being poisoned, a very dangerous experiment, as 
animals eat many fruits and leaves that are poison to man. 
2. Solanum nigrum, L.; herbaceum caule basi frutescente, erectum v. prostratum, foliis subovatis 
sinuato-angulatis acutis membranaceis, corymbis lateralibus subumbellatis. Zinn. Sp. Pl. Banks et 
Sol. MSS. 
Has. Northern and Middle Islands. Abundant in various situations, especially near houses and 
cultivation, Banks and Solander, etc. (Native of Britain.) 
One of the most common and universally distributed plants throughout the tropical and temperate latitudes of 
the globe, varying exceedingly. Stems 1-3 feet high, branching from a woody base, erect or procumbent. Leaves 
petioled, ovate, acute, sinuate-dentate, 1-3 inches long. Flowers in lateral cymes, or subumbellate, white, with 
yellow anthers, drooping. Berries size of a black currant, black or red. 
Oss. The seeds of Solanea are remarkably tenacious of their vitality, and hence various species of the Order 
are soon naturalized; amongst those in New Zealand are the common cultivated Potato, S. tuberosum (“ Tihou” 
and ** Kumera ”), the Cape Gooseberry, or “ Tipare " of India, Physalis pubescens, Tobacco, Nicotiana Tabacum, and 
Capsicums (Lycopersicon), all natives of the Americas. 
NAT. On». LVIII. CONVOLVULACEA, Juss. 
Gen. I. CALYSTEGIA, Br. 
Calyx 5-partitus, bracteis 2 foliaceis inclusus. Corolla campanulata, 5-loba, plicata. Stamina sub- 
qualia, limbo breviora. Ovarium semi-biloculare, 4-spermum. Séydws indivisus; stigmata 2, obtusa. 
Capsula 1-locularis. 
