PHISALIS.] SOLANACEM. 127 



races are recognized according to the shape or colour of the fruit. The 

 plant is more or less prickly according to the nature of the soil. In rich 

 garden soil the prickles almost or entirely disappear. When cultivated 

 as a field crop it becomes rather prickly, and very much so as an escape, 

 under which conditions the peduncles bear 3-4 small and usually roun- 

 dish fruits. Prain mentions two varieties : 1. ESCULENTA (8. longum, 

 Roxb.), a stout prickly herb with the fruit always cylindrical, and, accor- 

 ding to Roxburgh, a distinct species ; and 2. INSANA, (8. insanum, 

 Roxb ) which is a very prickly herb found in a semi-wild state near 

 villages. Its fruit is quite round, and the fruiting peduncles usually 

 bear more than one. The fruit of the egg-plant is always eaten cooked. 

 Its value as a vegetable is increased by its coming into season during 

 the autumn months when other kinds are scarce. The leaves possess 

 narcotic properties, and the seeds are regarded as stimulant. See also 

 Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. 556 ; D. C. VOrig. PL Cult. 229. Field and Qard. ; Crops 

 N. W. Prov. and Oudh,part Hi, 31, t. 95 ; F. B. I. iv, 235 ; Watt B. D.- t 

 Comm. Prod. Ind. ; Prain Beng.Pl. 146 ; Cooke Fl. Bomb, ii, 269. 



SOLANTJM TUBEROSUM, Linn. The Potato. Vern. Alu. A native of tem- 

 perate regions in S. America. Introduced into Europe during the six- 

 teenth century it reached India in the early portion of the seven- 

 teenth century. Largely cultivated within the area of this flora and on 

 the neighbouring parts of the Himalaya. Acclimatized varieties are sown 

 in the plains from about the middle of September, and the hill kinds 

 and those imported from Europe later on. For further information, 

 see DC. L'Orig. PI. Cult, 36 ; F. $ G. Crops N. W. Prov. and Ondh, part 

 tu, 25 : Watt E.D.; Comm. Prod. India . 



2. PHYSALIS Linn. ; PL Brit. Ind. iv, 238. 



Annual or perennial herbs. Leaves alternate, entire, sinuate or 

 shortly lobed. Flowers solitary, axillary, pedicelled. Calyx cam- 

 panulate, 5-fid., much enlarged in fruit and loosely enclosing the berry; 

 teeth small, connivent. Corolla campanulate, lurid-yellow, often 

 with purple spots near the base. Stamens 5, attached near the 

 base of corolla ; anthers oblong, shorter than the filaments, dehiscing 

 longitudinally. Ovary 2-celled, style linear, stigma obscurely 

 2-lobed. Fruit a globose berry. Seeds many or few, compressed, 

 smooth or faintly tuberculate, embryo peripheric. Speciea about 30, 

 mostly tropical American. 



P. minima, Linn. Sp. PL 183 ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. i, 563 ; F. B. I. tv, 

 23S; Watt E. D. ; Collett Fl. 8iml. 343; 'Prain Beng. PI. 750 ; Cook 

 FL Bomb, ii, 270. Vern. Ban-tipariya. 



Annual. Stem erect, 6-18 in. high, striate, more or less pubescent and 

 often viscid. Leaves petioled, thin, 1-2| in. long, ovate, acute, sinuate- 

 toothed or almost lobei, more or less pubescent, base cuneate, petioles 

 about 1 in. long. Flowers solitary, on long slender deflexed pedicels. 



