690 



SOL 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



SOL 



and Sarsaparilla, as a sweetener and restorative; he prescribes 

 an infusion of the twigs in boiling water, to be taken to the 

 quantity of a very large tea-cupful three or four times a day, 

 as a sweetener of the blood and juices, for which purpose it 

 is a -most excellent medicine. Linneus says, that an infusion 

 of the young twigs is an admirable medicine in acute rheuma- 

 tisms, inflammations, fevers, and suppression of the loehia. 

 Dr. Hallenberg advises it in ischiatic and rheumatic pains, 

 jaundice, scurvy, and lues venerea. They direct a pint of 

 boiling water to be poured upon two drachms of the stalks, 

 sliced and dried ; and, after standing half an hour, to boil it 

 ten or fifteen minutes. The dose is about two tea-cupsful, 

 morning and evening. Haller observes, that this plant par- 

 takes of the milder qualities of Common or Garden Night- 

 shade, joined to a resolutive and saponaceous quality. Mur- 

 ray and Bergius approve of it as a promoter of all the secre- 

 tions : the latter confines its use to rheumatism, and reten- 

 tion of the menses and loehia. But, according to other good 

 authorities, it has been applied with advantage in some obsti- 

 nate cutaneous affections. Dr. Cullen says, we have employed 

 only the slender twigs ; but some parcels of these were very 

 mild and inert, others considerably acrid ; in the latter 

 state we have employed a decoction of them in the cure of 

 rheumatism, sometimes with advantage, but at other times 

 without effect : though inserted in the catalogue of diuretics, 

 it never appeared to us as powerful in this way. The twigs 

 should be gathered either in spring'or autumn, but will be 

 found most powerful in the latter season. If it be used dry, a 

 somewhat larger dose must be taken. It is generally given 

 in a decoction or infusion ; and, to prevent it from exciting 

 vomit, it should be diluted with milk ; small doses also are 

 recommended at the beginning, for large ones have been 

 found to produce convulsions, delirium, and palsy of the 

 tongue. A tincture, made by infusing four ounces of the 

 twigs in a quart of white wi.ne, is, in my opinion, the best 

 preparation of it, and may be taken in doses of four or five 

 ounces, in which quantities it operates by sweat, urine, and 

 stool. It is one of those many neglected plants, which deserve 

 to be better known. Meyrick says, there are several varieties, 

 one with flesh-coloured, and sometimes with white flowers ; 

 another with hairy leaves; a third, with larger paler-coloured 

 flowers, opening only about noon, the segments less acuminate, 

 and not reflexed ; and another, with variegated leaves, which 

 is preserved by those who are curious in collecting striped- 

 leaved plants. This plant is a native of Europe, Africa, and 

 Siberia, growing in moist hedges, shady places, and by the 

 sides of ditches; flowering in June and July, and ripening its 

 poisonous berries in September and October. All the varie- 

 ties of this species are very handsome, and may be easily 

 propagated by laying down the branches, or planting cut- 

 tings in the spring, upon a moist soil, where they will soon 

 take root, and may afterwards be transplanted where they 

 are intended to remain. 



16. Solanum Triquetrum; Triangular-stalked Nightshade. 

 Stem unarmed, frutescent, three-sided; leaves cordate, acumi- 

 nate, smooth ; umbels opposite to the leaves, subpeduncled ; 

 corolla white, very deeply divided into five linear curled seg- 

 ments. Found flowering in September, at the Royal Garden 

 at Madrid. 



17. Solanum Scandens; Climbing Nightshade. Unarmed: 

 stem twining; leaves ovate, cordate at the base, hanging 

 down, very soft beneath; peduncles terminating. Branches 

 long and flaccid, herbaceous ; berry the size of a cherry, with 

 a short calix, contracted and gibbous under the fruit, with 

 five swellings. Native of Surinam. 



18. Solanum Lyratum; Lyrate-leaved Nightshade. Un- 



armed, herbaceous, erect : leaves lyrate, hastate, tomentose. 

 Native of Japan, near Nagasaki. 



19. Solanum Tegore; Guiana Nightshade. Stem unarmed, 

 shrubby, very hirsute ; leaves petioled, the lower pinnatifid, 

 sinuate, the upper cordate; racemes simple, axillary. Berries 

 globular, yellowish, almost the size of a walnut; seeds flatted 

 and rounded. All parts of the plant exhale a very disagree- 

 able odour. It flowers and fruits in October. Native of 

 Guiana, by the banks of the river Sinemaria. 



20. Solanum Quercifolium; Oak-leaved Nightshade. Stem 

 unarmed, subherbaceous, angular, flexuose, rugged ; leaves 

 pinnatifid; racemes cymed. Stem four or five feet high, 

 branched, leafy. It flowers in July; corollas violet-colour- 

 ed ; berries red, ovate. Native of Peru. 



21. Solanum Laciniatum ; Cut-leaved Nightshade. Stem 

 shrubby, unarmed, very smooth; leaves pinnatifid; segments 

 lanceolate, acute ; panicles axillary, by twos or threes. It 

 flowers in July and August. Native of New Zealand, &c. 

 Mr. Curtis, who cultivated this species, observes, that it is a 

 plant of some beauty, and remarkable for receding from the 

 common character of the genus, in having the antheree widely 

 separated from each other ; also, that the pulp of the berries 

 is sweet, tasting something like a fig. 



22. Solanum Radicans; Rooting Nightshade. Stem un- 

 armed, herbaceous, even, roundish, prostrate, rooting; leaves 

 pinnatifid ; racemes cymed. Native of Peru. 



23. Solanum Havanense; Havannah Nightshade. Stem 

 unarmed, frutescent; leaves oblong-lanceolate, quite entire, 

 shining; racemes axillary. Found at the Havannah, flower- 

 ing in January; and at Jamaica, flowering in June. 



24. Solanum Triste ; Dull Nightshade. Stem unarmed, 

 frutescent; leaves lanceolate-oblong, subrepand, smooth; ra- 

 cemes subcymed. Flowers small and white; berries globular, 

 of a dirty yellow colour. Native of Martinico. 



25. Solanum Racemosum ; Wave-leaved Nightshade. Stem 

 unarmed, frutescent; leaves lanceolate, repand, waved ; ra- 

 cemes long, straight. Corolla snow-white, cut very deeply 

 into lanceolate-oblong segments, scentless ; berries red, the 

 size of a small pea. Native of the West Indies. 



26. Solanum Corymbosum ; Ovate-leaved Nightshade. 

 Stem unarmed, suflfruticose ; leaves ovate-lanceolate, entire, 

 acuminate at the base; flowers corymbed. Corolla blue; 

 berry size of a pea, orange-coloured ; seeds few and pale. 

 It flowers in July. Native of Peru. 



27. Solanum Quadrangulare ; Square-stalked Nightshade. 

 Stem unarmed, frutescent, four-cornered ; leaves ovate, entire, 

 and angular; flowers panicled. It varies with lanceolate 

 entire leaves. Native of the Cape. 



28. Solanum Repandum ; Repand-leaved Nightshade. 

 Stem unarmed, subherbaceous, flexuose, even ; leaves ovate, 

 repand, tomentose; peduncles axillary, cymed. Native of 

 the Marquesas, and Society Isles. 



29. Solanum Bonariense; Tree Nightshade. Stem almost 

 unarmed, shrubby; leaves ovate-oblong, sinuate, repand, 

 rugged. Flowers white, large, nodding, tomentose on the 

 outside; antherse yellow: berries yellow, scarcely half an 

 inch broad. Native of Buenos Ayres. 



30. Solanum Macrocarpon ; Large-fruited Nightshade. 

 Stem unarmed, sufftuticose ; leaves wedged, repand, smooth. 

 Flowers large, blue, bell-shaped, erect, on short peduncles, 

 many of them barren ; berries the size of an apple, globular, 

 yellow, subsessile. Native of Peru. 



31. Solanum Tuberosum ; Tuberous-rooted Nightshade, or 

 Common Potato. Stem unarmed, herbaceous; leaves pin- 

 nate, quite entire; peduncles subdivided. The flowers are 

 white or tinged with purple ; or, as Gerarde describes there, 



