NIGHTSHADE FAMILY. 267 



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

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

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

 Flowers terminal or in the forks. 



*- -i- -i- Calyx bell-shaped, cup-shaped, < short-tubular, in fruit persistent under or 

 partly covering the 2-ce lied berry ; shrubs, with entire feather-veined leaves. 



13. OESTRUM. 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. Stigma capitate. Berry 

 many-seeded, red or reddish. Flowers solitary or umbelled, lateral. 



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

 coast of Peru and Chili ; the following 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. atriplicifblia, 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 petiolcd rather narrower leaves, 

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

 cells. 



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

 no obvious application.) Fl. summer. 



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

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

 leaflets cut or pinnatih'd ; 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 ca'yx enclosing the dry berry . anthers declined, umqual, one of 

 them much lunger th<ni t/u- rest, Itttves sinuately once to thrice pinnatijid. 



S. rostratum. "Wild on plains W. of Mississippi, and becoming a wee* 1 

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



S. heterodbxurh. Wild S. W. beyond the Mississippi, sometimes cult, 

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

 those of Watermelon, but are very prickly 



* * Calyx mostly someivhat prickly but not enclosing the fruit : anthers nearly equal, 

 S. Carolindnse, HORSK-NKTTLE. Wild weed in sandy soil from Conn. 



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

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



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

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

 white flowers. 



S. Melong^na, EGG PLANT, ADHERGINK. Cult, for the large oblong 

 or ovate violet-colored or white esculent fruit (2' -6' long) ; leaves ovate, rather 

 downy, obscurely sinuate ; corolla violet with yellow eye. 



2. Plants not at all pricklij : anthers blunt. , 



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

 grounds, much branched, nearly smooth, with ovate wavy-toothed or sinuate ,./^u t j 

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

 ous. 



