VERBASCACK^E 165 



HYOSCYAMUS L. HENBANE. 



H. niger L. A coarse, branched annual or biennial, 2 ft. high, hairy and 

 viscid, with an unpleasant smell. Leaves large, sessile ; upper ones clasping the 

 stem, ovate and irregularly pinnatifid. Flowers very shortly stalked ; upper 

 ones sessile in one-sided leafy spikes. Calyx persisting round the fruit, about an 

 inch long with 5 stiff, pointed teeth. Corolla pale dingy yellow with purplish 

 veins. Capsule globular, many-seeded. 



Waste places and rubbish heaps near houses. May-July. 



H. albus L. (Plate XXII). Sometimes perennial, smaller than the last. 

 Leaves petioled, suborbicular, almost cordate at base, sinuate-dentate. Corolla 

 irregular, limb oblique, pale yellow, sometimes purple at base. Teeth of calyx 

 shorter than in the last. Capsule less inflated. 



Old walls, rocks, and waste places, common on the littoral. April-July. 



ATROPA L. 



A. Belladonna L. Deadly Night-shade. An erect, usually glabrous and 

 branching herb, 2 ft. high. Leaves stalked, ovate, entire, with a smaller one 

 usually springing from the same point. Flowers solitary on short peduncles 

 in the axils of the leaves. Corolla dull purplish, nearly i in. long, with 5 broad, 

 short lobes. Berry large, globular, nearly black. Very poisonous. 



Shady mountain woods. June-July. Rather rare. 



SOLANUM L. 



S. Dulcamara L. Bitter Night-shade. Stem shrubby at base, with 

 climbing or straggling branches. Leaves ovate or ovate-lanceolate, usually 

 cordate at base, entire or with a smaller lobe on each side. Flowers rather 

 small, purple with yellow anthers, in divaricate cymes. Berries oval, red. 



Hedges and borders of streams. May-September. 



S. nigrum L. Black Solanum. Annual or biennial, with spreading 

 branches, i ft. high. Leaves stalked, ovate, with coarse angular teeth. Flowers 

 small and white, in short cymes on short peduncles. Berries small, globular, 

 black. Very polymorphic. 



Waste and cultivated ground, common. June-October. 



S. villosum Lamk. Hoary Solanum. A hairy, almost tomentose annual 

 resembling the last but smelling of musk. Flowers small, white, in shortly 

 stalked cymes. Berries small, orange-yellow. 



Fields, road-sides, and rubbish heaps, fairly common. June-September. 



PHYSALIS L. 



P. Alkekengi L. An erect plant, 1-2 ft. high. Leaves ovate-acuminate, 

 upper ones in pairs. Flowers greenish-white. Berries globular, red, as large as 

 a cherry, surrounded by the greatly inflated calyx which is truncate at base, 

 net-veined, and orange-red when ripe. 



Fields and shady places, uncommon. May- September. 



Datura Stramonium L. Thorn Apple. This American plant, naturalized 

 in many parts of Europe, is frequently seen in the Var. The leaves are, large, 

 with irregular pointed teeth or lobes. Flowers large, usually white, solitary, on 

 short peduncles ; corolla with 5 narrow teeth. Nicotiana glauca Graham 

 (Tobacco plant) has long been naturalized on old walls and rubbish heaps, etc. 



VERBASCACE/E. 



VERBASCUM L. MULLEIN. 



Stamens with white or yellowish hairs. 



V. Thapsus L. Great Mullein. A stout erect biennial, 2-4 ft. high, 

 covered with soft woolly hair. Leaves oblong, pointed, slightly toothed, 

 narrowed at base into two wings extending down the stem. Flowers yellow, 

 in a dense woolly terminal spike, often more than i ft. long, 3 of the filaments 



