NIGHTSHADES. 207 



Whether man or mayfly profit of the balm : 



As fair fingers heal'd 



Knights from the olden field, 

 "We hold cups of mightiest force to give the wildest calm. 



E'en the terror poison 



Hath its plea for blooming j 

 Life it gives to reverent lips, though death to the presuming." 



The Deadly Nightshade and Henbane are cases in point. 

 Rash meddlers with these get illness, or even death, as the 

 reward of their temerity, while the agonised sufferer blesses 

 the same Henbane for his much-needed sleep, and the painful 

 headache yields before homeopathic doses of Belladonna as 

 to a magic charm. Truly the Nightshades have no need to 

 blush for their members ; for besides these beneficent medicines 

 they have the Potato, Tomato, Cayenne Pepper, and "Winter 

 Cherry for food, the last being pleasant to the palate when 

 ripened in Spain or Portugal, and the Calabash for drinking 

 vessels. The first family is the one which gives its name to 

 the tribe. 



The Woody Nightshade (Solanum dulcamara), is a shrubby 

 plant, climbing to the height of four or five feet. The flowers 

 are in cymes, the corolla divided five times, and the segments 

 turned back ; the colour a fine violet. The five stamens grow 

 close together, and appear almost as one; they are bright 

 orange, and contrast perfectly with the violet corolla. The 

 leaves are dark green, smooth, and halbert-shaped, and the 

 berries are bright scarlet. Altogether it is an attractive-looking 

 plant, and grows commonly in hedges. My specimen was 

 gathered near Eipon. The berries and young twigs are 

 slightly poisonous and emetic. 



The Black or Garden Nightshade (S. nigrum*), grows fre- 

 quently as a weed in gardens, and very much frequents waste 



* The "Apples of Sodom" are the fruit of another member of this family. Murray 

 says, in his Encyclopedia, " At the foot of the mountains on the shore of the Lake 

 Asphaltitea Hasselquist found the Solanum sodoratcmum, the fruit of which, in- 

 ternally destroyed by insects, preserves its colour, but contains only dust. These 

 are the ' Apples of Sodom ' spoken of by Josephus, and the ' Grapes of Sodom and 

 the Grapes of Gall' of Holy Writ." 



