252 EXTRACTS FROM 



PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



19. Solanum torvum, Sw — Macaw Bush. 



This troublesome plant is of speedy growth, as, in twelve 

 months, it is ten or twelve feet high, and chokes up every other 

 plant. The trunk, branches and leaves, are beset with short, 

 thick prickles ; the flowers are numerous, white, and 5-lobed. 

 The berries, when ripe, are of the size of a cherry, yellow, 

 hard, and containing many flat seeds. 



No use is made of this plant. It does not appear to be 

 poisonous, as horses and cattle, when hungry, eat it with 

 impunity. 



20. Solanum tomentosum, L. — Turkey Berries. 



The Turkey-berry bush grows low; the stems onlyare beset 

 with short crooked prickles, the blossoms are small and white ; 

 the berries are red, soft, and less than a cherry, containing 

 many seeds. 



Cattle or horses cannot eat this plant, on account of the 

 prickles, but turkeys and other fowls are very fond of the 

 berries. 



21. Solanum mammosum, L. — Cock-roach Poison. 



This bush looks like the foregoing ; the prickles on the 

 stems and leaves are long and straight. The flowers are a 

 bluish white. The fruit is of the size and shape of a pear, 

 of a bright yellow colour, and contains many seeds. 



This seems to be' a species of the vegetable egg. No other 

 use is made of it in Jamaica, than by boiling it up with sugar 

 to poison cockroaches. Whether it has this effect is un- 

 certain, as these filthy insects are so plentiful. 



