994 



which are nearly regular and equal, and the margins always valvate 

 or induplicato-valvate in aestivation ; stamens epipetalous, alternate 

 with and equal to the number of lobes, sometimes unequal in size and 

 length, fifth rarely sterile ; anthers introrse, bursting by longitudinal 

 slits ; ovary generally 2-celled, rarely 3- to 5-locular ; style simple ; 

 stigma 2-lobed; fruit a capsule or berry, 2-locular; seeds albuminous, 

 numerous ; embryo in one suborder slender, terete, curved spirally or 

 in an annular form, in another short and straight ; radicle always 

 pointing to the basal angle of the seed, and turned away a short dis- 

 tance from the lateral and somewhat marginal (never basal) hilum. 

 The order is composed of plants with dentate (rarely pinnatifid), exsti- 

 pulate leaves ; inflorescence axillary, more generally extra-axillary or 

 lateral, and in development centrifrugal, single, terminal, cymose, 

 panicled, racemose or corymbose. 



The plants of this order occur in greatest abundance in the tro- 

 pics, especially in South America; but some of them are found in all 

 the warmer regions of the earth. In Europe, they are met with prin- 

 cipally in those countries bordering on the Mediterranean. In Bri- 

 tain, we have only two indigenous species, Solanum nigrum and S. 

 Dulcamara. This order does not possess any distinctly narcotic 

 plant, nor any species known to dilate the pupil, either when admi- 

 nistered internally, or when applied to the eye : even in large doses, 

 they do not seem to exert any influence on the system, beyond a diu- 

 retic and diaphoretic action. 



The tubers of some of the species, such as the potato, contain a 

 large quantity of starch, and other nutritive principles ; and there- 

 fore, over a large extent of the globe, they form most important 

 articles of food. 



The new order, the Atropaceae, as has been already stated, is 

 intermediate with the Solanaceae and Scrophularineae, and embraces 

 the anomalies of both, most numerous in the first. Its characters, 

 according to Mr. Miers, are : — Calyx tubular, persistent, more or less 

 divided ; border of corolla 5-lobed, seldom bilabiate, slightly unequal, 

 lobes always imbricate in aestivation, never valvate, the margins of 

 one lobe being free from those of the others, in bud often plicated 

 longitudinally ; stamens 5, epipetalous, alternate with the lobes of 

 the corolla, usually all fertile, rarely one or three sterile ; filaments 

 filiform, one of them sometimes shorter than the others ; anthers 

 introrse, sometimes exti'orse, bilobed, lobe-cells parallel, usually 

 opening longitudinally, one lobe sometimes sterile ; ovary rarely more 

 than bilocular; ovules generally ascending, attached to the fleshy 



