204 HARDY PERENNIALS AND 



are suspended in orange-yellow husks of large size, are very 

 ornamental indeed, and form a very pleasing object amongst 

 other " autumnal tints." It is not till October that the fruit 

 begins to show its richness of colour. The plant is quite hardy, 

 though a native of southern Europe; it is also herbaceous 

 and perennial, and it has been grown in this country for 330 

 years. Still, it is not to be seen in many gardens. An old 

 common name for it was /'Red Nightshade," and Gerarde 

 gives a capital illustration of it in his Herbal, under the name 

 Solanum Halicacabum. 



P. Alkekengi grows to the height of about two feet. The 

 stems of the plant are very curious, being somewhat zig-zag 

 in shape, swollen at the nodes, with sharp ridges all along 

 the stems ; otherwise, they are round and smooth. The leaves 

 are produced in twins, their long stalks issuing from the same 

 part of the joint ; they are of various forms and sizes, but mostly 

 heart-shaped, somewhat acute, and 2in. to 4in. long. The little 

 soft creamy white flowers spring from the junction of the twin 

 leaf - stalks ; their anthers are bulky for so small a flower. 

 The calyx continues to grow after the flower has faded, and 

 forms the Chinese-lantern-like covering of the scarlet berry; the 

 latter will be over ^in. in diameter, and the orange-coloured calyx 

 l^in., when fully developed. In autumn the older stems cast 

 their leaves early, when the finely-coloured fruit shows to advan- 

 tage ; the younger stems keep green longer, and continue to 

 flower until stopped by the frost. To this short description I 

 may add that of Gerarde, which is not only clear but pleasantly 

 novel : "The red winter Cherrie bringeth foorth stalkes a cubite 

 long, rounde, slender, smooth, and somewhat reddish, reeling 

 this way and that way by reason of his weakness, not able to 

 stande vpright without a support : whereupon do growe leaues 

 not vnlike to those of common nightshade, but greater ; among 

 which leaues come foorth white flowers, consisting of five small 

 leaues; in the middle of which leaues standeth out a berrie, 

 greene at the first, and red when it is ripe, in colour of our 

 common Cherrie and of the same bignesse, which is enclosed in a 

 thinne huske or little bladder of a pale reddish colour, in which 

 berrie is conteined many small flat seedes of a pale colour. The 

 rootes be long, not vnlike to the rootes of Couch grasse, ramping 

 and creeping within the vpper crust of the earth farre abroade, 

 whereby it encreaseth greatly." 



The stems, furnished with fruit of good colour, but other- 

 wise bare, make capital decorations for indoors, when mixed 

 with tall grasses, either fresh or dried, and for such purposes 

 this plant is worth growing ; any kind of soil will do, in an 

 out-of-the-way part, but if in shade, the rich colour will be 

 wanting. 



Flowering period, June to frosts. 



