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SOLANUM. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



SOLANUM. 



S. ATRO-PURPUREUM. An erect plant 

 with purple leaves and stems, 3 to 6 feet 

 high. The deeply - lobed long - spined 

 leaves are threaded with pale veins, and 

 the small purple flowers yield small round 

 berries. Brazil. 



S. BALBISI. A shrubby plant hardy 

 against walls in sheltered southern gar- 

 dens, with slender straggling stems and 

 deeply-cut leaves armed with pale brown 

 spines. The pale mauve flowers are large, 

 succeeded by bright scarlet berries like a 

 small cherry and sweet. Syn., S. sisym- 

 bri folium. This can be treated as a 

 tender annual, or grown from cuttings. 



S. BETACEUM. A small tree from S. 

 America of distinct appearance, with stout 

 smooth* stems and large oval leaves of 

 fleshy texture, veined with purple in the 

 variety purpureum. The flowers are 

 small, followed by orange-red or scarlet 

 fruits like a hen's egg for size and shape, 

 hanging in showy clusters and so thickly 

 that a thousand hang on a single mature 

 plant in its own land. This is one of the 

 best, of rapid growth, and easily handled. 



S. CILIATUM. With showy scarlet fruits, 

 round and like a small Tomato, of dry 

 texture, and useful for winter decoration, 

 as they will hang for months among the 

 glossy spined leaves without spoiling. 

 The variety macrocarpum is the best. 



S. CRINITUM. A stout shrubby plant of 

 5 or 6 feet, with leaves 2 feet or more long, 

 of velvet texture and tender green tint, 

 threaded with purple veins set with 

 spines. The deep blue flowers are 2 

 inches across and hang in heavy clusters, 

 followed by fruits an inch or more in 

 diameter. This grows strongly in shel- 

 tered southern gardens. Increase by 

 suckers. Guiana. 



S. CRISPUM (Potato Tree). Reaches 15 

 or 20 feet as a bush in the open, and ex- 

 ceeds this against a wall. It is one of the 

 hardiest kinds, resisting as far north as 

 the Trent on warm soils, though dying to 

 the ground in a hard winter. The leaves 

 vary in size, being much larger towards 

 the base than at the tips of the shoots, 

 and waved or loosely crisped around the 

 edges. The flowers are a pretty bluish j 

 colour, fragrant in summer. 



S. GIGANTEUM. A tree of 25 feet in its I 

 own land, with a trunk as thick as a 

 man's thigh. With us it is 5 or 6 feet I 

 high, prickly, and covered in white wool ; ! 

 the leaves unarmed, deep green above and 

 whitish beneath ; the flowers pale blue, | 

 not showy ; the berries red and as large I 

 as peas. India. 



S. JASMINOIDES (Jasmine Nightshade). 

 A charming summer-leafing climber, and j 

 the most beautiful of the family, hardy i 

 anywhere in the south of Britain, where [ 

 its wreaths of starry white flowers are j 

 freely borne upon a wall or house-front, 



even in a north aspect. Grown out of 

 doors and in a strong light, the flowers arc 

 more or less shaded with greyish-blue or 

 purple, and there is a charming pale bluish 

 variety in which the colour seems fixed. 

 The flowers are pure white if grown in 

 partial shade, or in a north house. The 

 shoots should be well cut in after frost is 

 over in spring. Increase from side-shoots 

 taken with a heel. 



S. LACINIATUM (Kangaroo Apple). A 

 stout rapid-growing plant from the anti- 

 podes, with dark fleshy stems growing 4 to 

 6 feet in a season ; much-divided leaves, 

 dark violet flowers, and fruits the size of 

 a small plum, changing from green to 

 yellow and red. One of the easiest to 

 grow, and nearly hardy on the south 

 coast. 



S. LASIOSTYLUM. A low shrub of the 

 W. Australian deserts, with white 

 woolly leaves, spiny stems, and purple 

 flowers. The young plants need a warm 

 place and careful watering. 



S. MARGIN ATUM. A handsome fivelv- 

 branched species, the stout woody stems 

 coated with white wool and armed with 

 prickles. The leaves are oval, green above 

 with a waved white margin, and white 

 underneath and while young the droop- 

 ing white flowers are purple at the centre 

 with orange stamens, and give place to 

 yellow fruits like a small Tomato. 

 Abyssinia. 



S. PLATENSE. A true creeper, which 

 instead of rambling over the surrounding 

 vegetation runs over the ground, rooting 

 as it goes and seldom rising more than a 

 foot high. It is found on the banks of 

 the La Plata as a carpet of grey downy 

 leaves, with white bell-shaped flowers on 

 short erect stems, followed by sweet fruits 

 of the same colour. 



S. ROBUSTUM. A much-branched shrub 

 of 4 feet, its stems and leaf-ribs set with 

 sharp spines and dense red hairs. The 

 leaves are large, sharply oval, and bluntly 

 lobed, or nearly triangular higher on the 

 stems, green and velvety above, yellow and 

 woolly beneath. The flowers are white 

 with orange stamens, and the rounded 

 brown berries like a small cherry. Brazil. 



S. TORREYI. A free-flowering perennial 

 hardy in the south of Britain with root- 

 protection. The violet or white flowers 

 are large and handsome, followed by yellow 

 fruits an inch in diameter. The leaves 

 are waved like an Oak-leaf, 4 to 6 inches 

 long, and covered beneath with mealy 

 down. Texas. 



S. WENDLANDI. The noblest of Sola- 

 nums, and one of the handsomest climbing 

 plants for a cool greenhouse, flowering 

 profusely through a long season, and at 

 its best about August. It has been tried 

 in the open air with some success in warm 

 gardens south of the Thames and in shel- 

 tered places along our southern coasts. 



