120 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



The woody nightshade is the Solarium Dulcamara of 

 the botanist. The generic name is derived from the Latin 

 word solamen, solace or consolation, and refers to the com- 

 fort and relief that the properties of some other species 

 of the genus afford from their narcotic properties. The 

 specific name is equivalent in meaning to one of the plant's 

 names, the bittersweet, and it is also in some old herbals 

 called the Amaradulcis, because the stems when first tasted 

 appear bitter, a sensation soon followed by a considerable 

 degree of sweetness. 



The only other English species is the common, or black, 

 nightshade (S. nigrum), so called because its fruit when ripe 

 is jet black. Its blossoms, of similar form to those of the 

 woody nightshade, are pure white. It is very commonly 

 to be met with in fields and on waste ground. It is the 

 petty morel of the older herbalists, the deadly nightshade, 

 a plant of another genus, being the great morel. 



