120 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOE. 



LESSONS IN BOTANY. XVII. 



SECTION XXXI.-SOLANACE^!, OR THE NIGHTSHADE 

 TRIBE (continued). 



THE capsicum (Capsicum annuum) is another of the Solanacece. 

 It is an annual, originally a native of India, but cultivated now 

 in Europe, Africa, America, and Australia. Its berry is conical, 

 smooth, and shining, green when unripe, passing gradually into 

 a beautiful coral-red. In this pod resides a resinous balsamic 

 acrid principle named capsicine. Cayenne pepper is capsicum 

 fruit reduced to powder. 



The beautiful tomato, or love-apple (Lycopersicum esculentum), 

 a native originally of the West 

 Indies, is now cultivated in 

 European gardens, more es- 

 pecially in those of Spain and 

 Italy. In the former coun- 

 try it serves as a daily arti- 

 cle of food for persons of al- 

 most every grade of society. 



We now arrive at the 

 genus Solanum, from which 

 the order Solanacece takes 

 its name. It is very nume- 

 rous in species. Its generic 

 characters may be enume- 

 rated by a rotate corolla, 

 and anthers not opening by 

 longitudinal fissures, but by 

 two points at their summits. 

 The most common species 

 of the genus Solanum is the 

 Dulcamara, or bitter-sweet, 

 a plant which is found grow- 

 ing ia almost every hedge in 

 the vicinity of London, known 

 by its sombre foliage, its pen- 

 dent cymes of pretty flowers, 

 and its deep-red berries. 



By far the most important, 

 however, amongst the genus 

 Solanum is the potato, or 

 Solanum tuberosum, a plant 

 originally a native of the 

 Cordilleras, or high moun- 

 tains of Peru and Chili. 



It is supposed that this 

 useful vegetable was first 

 brought into Spain in the 

 early part of the sixteenth 

 century, by some of the 

 Spaniards who invaded Peru 

 under Pizarro, and ultimately 

 succeeded in annexing it to 

 the Spanish dominions in the 

 New World. The term 

 potato is, in all probability, 

 derived from the Spanish 

 batata, a word which was 

 originally applied to the 

 sweet and succulent root 

 called beet, or beetroot. The 



tuber and its principal use as a vegetable became known in Italy 

 and other parts of Southern Europe soon after its introduction 

 into Spain; but the potato was unknown in England until 1586, 

 when Sir Walter Ealeigh returned from an unsuccessful attempt 

 to found the colony of Virginia, which was not permanently 

 settled until 1607. The chief result, indeed, of Sir Walter 

 Ealeigh's expedition was the introduction of the potato into 

 England and Ireland. It is asserted that the potato was first 

 brought to this country by Sir John Hawkins in 1563 ; while, 

 by others, the credit of having introduced a vegetable which 

 forms such an important adjunct to the mid-day meal is ascribed ! 

 l.o Sir Francis Drake. It is, however, most probable that it | 

 was brought from North America by Sir Walter Ealeigh, who j 

 set about turning the knowledge of its habits and uses to good j 

 account by successfully attempting its culture on a large scale 

 in his Irish estates near Youghal, in county Cork. 



162. THE TOBACCO PLANT (NICOTIANA TABACFM). 



The student will remember that the potato is not a root, 

 but a tuber. He will also remember the botanical significance 

 attached to the word tuber, which is a sort of aggregation of 

 underground buds studded upon a dense mass of starchy matter 

 and gluten designed for their nourishment. 



Tobacco (Nicotiana Tabacum, Fig. 162) is another plant 

 belonging to the natural order we are considering, and the use 

 some will say abuse of which is too well known to require 

 comment. 



When Christopher Columbus, in 1492, first set foot in the 

 island of Cuba, he saw, amongst other strange customs, tne 

 natives gather the leaves of a plant, dry these leaves, roll them 



into the form of a torch, light 

 the torch, put the unignited 

 end in the mouth, and breathe 

 the smoke. Such is the first 

 account we have handed 

 down to us of the manufac- 

 ture and uses of a " mild 

 Havannah." Subsequently, 

 when Columbus and his gold- 

 hunting associates gained the 

 main continent of America, 

 they saw a similar custom 

 everywhere in force amongst 

 all classes, slightly varied as 

 to detail, some using pipes, 

 and others preferring the 

 Cuban method .of cigar- 

 gmoking. Nor were chewing 

 and snuff-taking unknown to 

 the Mexicans and Peruvians. 

 The Mexican priests, in par- 

 ticular, were in the habit of 

 taking snuff profusely, for 

 the purpose of clearing their 

 brains and exalting their in- 

 tellects. From the aborigines 

 of America, tobacco first 

 passed to the Spariards, then 

 to the Portuguese, then to the 

 English, and it is now every- 

 where ; and despite a great 

 deal of opposition shown to 

 it, there is no great reason to 

 suppose that tobacco-chew- 

 ing, smoking, or snuff-taking 

 will ever be abolished. 



Tobacco was first brought 

 into Europe by Jean Nicot, 

 French ambassador at the 

 court of Portugal ; hence the 

 name Nicotiana given to the 

 genus. It was this ambas- 

 sador who, we are told, 

 offered the first pinch of snuff 

 to Catherine de Medicis. 

 The queen was much pleased 

 with the sensation, history 

 informs us, took to " snuff- 

 ing" with great ardour, 

 and becoming the acknow- 

 ledged patroness of snuff, tobacco was called in consequence 

 Herbe de la Heine. Sir Walter Ealeigh took some tobacco from 

 Virginia to England, and became remarkably fond of its use. 

 His example was soon followed even by the most refined cour- 

 tiers. James I., every person knows, entertained a furious 

 hatred against tobacco. In the year 1619 he fulminated an 

 edict against it, but tobacco was more powerful than the king. 

 Pope Urban VIII., in 1624, next set to work to check the use of 

 tobacco, against which he launched a special bull. The pope 

 did not succeed better than the king. Next in the list of 

 tobacco-stoppers came the Sultan Amurath IV., the Shah of 

 Persia, and the Grand Duke of Muscovy. These potentates- 

 more especially directed their efforts to restrain the habit of 

 snuff- taking ; and disdaining argument, which had so signally 

 failed under James disdaining, also, religious enactments, whicb 

 had not been more successful under the pope this precious trio of 



