128 SOLANACE&. [WITHANIA. 



Calyx (in flower) |-^ in., not angular, base truncate ; lobes triangular, 

 acute, nearly equalling the tube, ciliate. Corolla % in. long, clear 



e'low, or with 5 basal spots inside, limb with very short lobes. Kerry 

 in. in diam., completely enclosed within the enlarged membranous 

 0-ribbed reticulately-veined calyx. Seeds discoid or reniform, 

 muriculate, orange-yellow. 



Common within the drier portions of the area, usually on waste ground. 

 Flowers May Aug. DISTRTB. : Common on the plains of Punjab and 

 Bengal, and in Peninsular India, also! in Ceylon, and up to 7,000 ft. 

 on the outer Himalaya, extending to Afghanistan, Baluchistan and to 

 Tropical Africa and Australia. 



VAR. indica, F. B. I. iv, 238 ; Watt E. D. -, Prain Beng. PL 750. P. 

 indica, Lamk. Encycl. ii, 102. The leaves and fruiting calyx are 

 glabrescent, and the latter is distinctly 5-angular. The corolla has no 

 basal spots. Common within the area and throughout India in similar 

 situations. 



P. peruviana, Linn. ; Eoxb. Fl. Ind. i, 562 ; F. B. I.iv, 238 ; Watt E. D. ; 

 Prain Beng. PL 750 ; Cooke Fl. Bomb, ii, 270. Vern Tipari. A small 

 shrub, resembling P. minima, but much stouter and with larger 

 flowers and fruit. It is a native of Trop. America, whence it was 

 introduced into India and S. Africa, and hence its name of "Cape 

 Gooseberry " by which it is usually known. The plant is much culti- 

 vated in India, and the bright amber-coloured fruit is eaten either raw 

 or cooked. 



3. WITHANIA, Pauq. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. iv, 239, 



Unarmed shrubs. Leaves entire. Flowers axillary, sessile or 

 shortly pedicelled, fascicled or solitary, sometimes poly^amo-dioecious. 

 Calyx canopanulate, 5- or 6-toothed, enlarged and sub-globose in 

 fruit. Corolla campanulate ; lobes 3-6, short, valvate in bud. 

 Stamens attached near the base of the corolla ; anthers oblong, 

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

 shortly 2-fid. Fruit a globose berry. Seeds very many, discoid, 

 embryo peripberic. Species 4 or 5, from S. Europe to N. Africa and 

 the Canary Islands, also in W. Asia, 



W. somnifera, Dunal in DC. Prod, sciii, pt. 1, 453 ; F.B.I, iv, 239 ; 

 Watt E.D.; Gamble Man. Ind. Timb. 508 ; Prain Beng. PL 750 ; Cooke Fl. 

 "Bomb, ii, 271 ; Brandis Ind. Trees 490. Physalis somnifera Link ; Eoyle 

 III. 219 Physalis flexuosa, Linn. ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. i, 561. Vern. Askand, 

 asind. 



An erect branching undershrub up to 5 ft. high, nearly all parts more or 

 less stellately tomentose ; branches flexuose, terete, densely tomentose. 

 Leaves petioled, 2-4 in. long, ovate, subacute, base acute ; main lateral 

 nerves about 6 pairs, prominent, petioles i-^in. long. Flowers greenish 

 or lurid-yellow, usually about 5 together in subsessile umbelliform 



