298 HOW TO KNOW WILD FBUITS 



HORSE NETTLE 



Solanum Carolinense Potato Family 



Fruit. The smooth globular berries are 

 orange-yellow and nearly three-quarters of an 

 inch through. They grow in small, usually 

 lateral clusters, on prickly stems. The calyx 

 lobes are at the base of each berry. They are 

 many-seeded. 



Leaves. The ovate or oblong leaves have 

 wavy margins or are lobed with acute or obtuse 

 lobes. The veins of the leaves are often 

 prickly. 



Flowers. The violet flowers grow in ter- 

 minal racemes, which become lateral in fruit. 



This perennial of sandy waste places is hairy 

 and has branches, stems, and parts of leaves 

 thickly set with yellowish prickles. It extends 

 from Connecticut west to Iowa and south. 



