136 The Solanum as a Decorative Plant. 



are round, oval, or long ; and are very showy. In this country they are 

 much used as a vegetable, but in England are chiefly employed as 

 decorative plants. The scarlet-fruited &^^ plant, a native of the trop- 

 ics, has recently been introduced from Portugal. It is a very showy 

 plant, and when covered with the bright scarlet fruit, which is about as 

 large as a hen's egg, is very ornamental. It is, however, rather a late 

 variety, is quite tender, and, to perfect its fruit, should be started in a 

 hot bed in early spring, and not planted out until the weather is warm. 



S. DuIcatJiat-a^ or Bittersweet, is a very beautiful plant, both in 

 flower and fruit. It is a half climber, often growing five or six feet 

 high, and, in its native habitat, rambling over bushes. The stem is 

 woody, and the plant a hardy perennial. The flowers are in drooping 

 cymes, purple, with a yellow spot at the base of each petal ; the fruit 

 in clusters, small, oval, and of a bright-red color. As the plant flowers 

 all summer, and produces berries freely, a large plant, properly trained, 

 is a very beautiful object. We have seen a trellis, five feet high, a 

 mass of red berries and purple flowers, nodding from a rich mass of 

 hastate and cordate leaves. 



There is, however, one popular objection to the cultivation of this 

 plant — the berries are very attractive to children, and are considered 

 poisonous, although, to produce fatal results, a very large number 

 would have to be eaten. This prejudice against the plant arises from 

 ignorance, and has no real foundation in fact. 



The Deadly Nightshade {^S. nigritni)^ although doubtless poison- 

 ous, and characterized by Dr. Gray as a '' homely weed," is not without 

 beauty. The plant is annual with us, but in warmer countries is 

 perennial, and, in a rich soil, makes a surprising growth. The flowers 

 are white, not showy, and are succeeded by dark black fruits, about the 

 size of currants. A large plant, in full fruit, is very ornamental ; but 

 as the berries arc sweetish and very poisonous, we can hardly advise 

 its cultivation. 



It is singular, however, how climatic influences change the nature 

 of plants. Of this the Black Nightshade is a case in point ; for in 

 Norfolk Island and in Russia the berries are eaten, and in the Isle of 

 France, the leaves, so poisonous with us, are boiled and eaten like 

 spinach. 



