The Botany of Htngham. 117 



53. SOLANACE-aB. (NIGHTSHADE FAMILY.) 



Herbs with us ; sometimes shrubs in other regions. This fam- 

 ily furnishes that most valuable tuber, the potato; and also the 

 nutritious and wholesome fruit of the Tomato and Egg plant. A 

 narcotic alkaloid, however, pervades the species, rendering many 

 noxious and some violently poisonous. Even the herbage of the 

 potato and its raw fruit (not the tubers) contain too much of the 

 alkaloid to be safe for food. 



Tobacco, one of the most potent of all the enemies that man 

 puts into his mouth, is a product of the Nicotiana Tabacum, a 

 native of Central America. 



Our wild species are all more or less poisonous, — the Datura 

 tatula, or Thorn-apple, being the most so. 



As might be supposed from the active narcotic character of the 

 plants of this family, many furnish useful medicines. 



Solanum, Tourn. 



Dulcamara, L. Nightshade, 

 nigrum, L. Black Nightshade. 



Physalis, L. 



Virginiana, Mill. Ground Cherry. Rare. 



Nicandra, Adans. 



p/iysaloides, Gcert. Apple of Peru. Rare. 



Datura, L. 



Tatula, L. Purple Thorn-apple. 



54. SCROPHULARIACE^J. (FlGWORT FAMILY.) 



Mostly herbs. A very large family of plants, inhabitants alike 

 of cold and warm climates, and though properly classed together 

 by natural affinities, yet exhibiting great diversity of character. 

 One, a native of Japan, is a tree forty feet in height, and hav- 

 ing a trunk two to three feet in diameter, yet bearing clusters of 

 blossoms similar to those of the common Foxglove. We may 

 contrast with this the Limosella, a plant from one to two inches 

 in height, which grows in the tidal mud of the shores. The 

 family is well represented in Hingham by the Gerardias, the 

 Veronicas, and other well-known genera. 



The properties of the plants are not such as to inspire the lov- 

 ing feelings towards them that are excited bv the Rosacea;, the 

 Labiatoe, and some others, for they are acrimonious and dele- 

 terious. One of them, a commonly cultivated species of the 

 genus Digitalis, the Foxglove, is violently poisonous. This and 

 several others of kindred nature afford to man some compensa- 

 tion for their noxious qualities by furnishing medicines of great 

 value. Many of the species are highly ornamental. 



