200 SCROPHULARINE^:. 



Properties. Narcotic powers may be said to charac- 

 terize this tribe, which in some members is so highly 

 developed as to constitute them some of the most pow- 

 erful poisons known. It is true that many species afford 

 nourishment and food, and might therefore be supposed 

 to be destitute of such noxious property ; but even in 

 many of these cases a slight degree of the general 

 character exists, but cultivation and the culinary 

 processes, and the great quantity of farinaceous matter 

 over-balancing the rest, render the particular portion 

 of the plant which is eaten, not only innocuous, but 

 highly nutritious. The alkaloids Atropia, Solanine, and 

 Daturine, etc., have been discovered in some species. 



Officinal Plants. 



Atropa belladonna. 

 Capsicum annuum. 

 Datura stramonium. 

 Hyoscyamus niger. 

 Nicotiana tabacum. 

 Solanum dulcamara. 



37. SCROPHULARINE^E. 



Calyx inferior, often 4-5-cleft, unequal, persistent. 

 Corolla monopetalous, inferior, 4-5-cleft, mostly irregu- 

 lar, often labiate, deciduous, imbricate in sestivation. 

 Stamens 2-4, didynamous, placed upon the tube of the 

 corolla. Ovarium superior, two-celled, many-ovuled ; 

 style one, stigma two-lobed or obtuse. Fruit capsular 

 and dehiscent, rarely succulent and indehiscent, 2-3- 

 celled, 2-4-valved, the valves entire or bifid, and the dis- 

 sepiments either double, formed by the inflexed margins 

 of the valves ; or simple and entire, and then either pa- 

 rallel with the valves or opposite them. Placenta cen- 

 tral, adnate with the dissepiment, or separate from it. 



