NIGHTSHADE FAMILY^ 267 



slender. Stigma somewhat 2-lobed or 2-lipped. Pod globular, in the com- 

 mon species prickly and 4-ceiIed, but the 2 placentae-bearing or false par- 

 titions often incomplete. Seeds large and flat, somewhat kidney-shaped. 

 Flowers terminal or in the forks. 



4- - -t- Calyx btll-shaped, cup-shaptd, or short-tubular, in fruit persistent under or 

 partly covering the Z-cclled btrry ; shrubs, with entire feather-veined Itavts. 



13. CESTRUM. Corolla tubular-funnel-form or club-shaped, the lobes folded or 



plaited lengthwise in the bud. Stamens included. Stigma capitate. Ovary 

 with few ovules in each cell. Berry few-seeded. Flowers in clusters. 



14. LYCIUM. Parts of the flower often in fours. Corolla funnel-form, bell- 



shaped or tubular, the lobes imbricated in the bud. Stigrna capitate. Berry 

 many-seeded, i - ed or reddish. Flowers solitary or umbelled, lateral. 



1. NOLAN A. (From Latin no/a, a little bell.) Cult, for ornament, from 

 coast of Peru and Chili ; the foilowjng procumbent and spreading, rather 

 fleshy-leaved, smooth except some scattered hairs on the stalks, the showy- 

 blue flowers solitary on axillary or lateral peduncles, opening in sunshine, all 

 summer. 



N. atriplicifdlia, with obovate or broadly spatulate leaves (resembling 

 those of Spinach, whence the specific name) ; sky-blue corolla 2' wide with 

 white and yellowish centre ; ovaries numerous in a heap, each 1-celled and 

 1 -seeded. 



N. prostrata, now less common, has more petioled rather narrower leaves, 

 smaller pale vio.et-blue flower striped with purple, and few ovaries each of 2-4 

 cells, (i) 



2: LYCOPERSICUM, TOMATO. (Name in Greek means wolf-peach, 

 'no obvious application.) Fl. summer. 



L. esculentura, TOMATO, cult, from trop. America, includes the manifold 

 varieties and forms ; hairy, rank-scented ; leaves interruptedly pinnate, larger 

 leaflets cut or pinnatifid ; flowers yellowish, by cultivation having their parts 

 often increased in number, .the esculent red berry becoming several celled. 



3. SOLANUM, NIGHTSHADE, &c. (Derivation uncertain.) Flowers 

 mostly in corymb or raceme-like clusters, in summer. 



1. More or less prickly herbs, with acute elongated-lanceolate anthers. 



* Very prickly calyx enclosing* the dry berry : anthers declined, unequal, one of 

 them much longer than the rest, leaves sinuately once to thrice pinnatijid. (T) 



S. rostratum. Wild on plains W. of Mississippi, and becoming a weed 

 in some gardens, has yellow flowers, 1'- l' in diameter. 



S. heterodbxum. Wild 8. W. beyond the Mississippi, sometimes cult, 

 for ornament, has violet-blue flowers, and the more divided leaves resemble 

 those of Watermelon, but are very prickly 



* * Calyx mostly somewhat prickly but not enclosing the fruit: anthers nearly equal. 

 S. Carolin6nse, Honsi -NKT-^LK. Wild weed in sandy soil from Conn. 



S. : roughish downy, 1 high, with ovate-oblong angled or sinuate-lobed leaves, 

 yellowish prickles, and pale blue or white flowers almost 1' wide. If. 



S. aculeatlSSimum. Weed introduced into waste places S., l-2 

 high, bristly hairy, greener and more prickly than the foregoing, with smaller 

 white flowers. i 



S. Melongena, EGG PLANT, AUHKRGINK. Cult, for the large oblong 

 or ovate violet-colored or white esculent fruit (^'-G' long) ; leaves ovate, rather 

 downy, obscurely sinuate ; corolla violet with yellow eye. 



2. Plants not at all prickly : anthers blunt. 



S. nigrum, BLACK or COMMON NIGHTSHADE. Low weed of shady 

 grounds, much branched, nearly smooth, with ovate wavy-toothed or sinuate 

 leaves, very small white flowers, and globular black berries said to be poison- 



