254 NIGHTSHADE. 



round green spots; the tube is short, and the faux or mouth is of a 

 ihiatftg black colour ; the calyx is small, and divides into five blunt 

 persistent segments, of a purple colour ; the five filaments are short, 

 black, and inserted in the tube of the corolla : the anthers are yel- 

 low, erect, and unite at their points ; the style is somewhat longer 

 than the stamina, and terminated by a simple obtuse stigma; the 

 germen is oval, and becomes a roundish bilocular berry, which finally 

 acquires a red colour, and contains many flat yellowish seeds. It 

 grows plentifully in hedges well supplied with water, and the flowers 

 appear about the latter end of June. 



The roots and stalks of this Nightshade, upon being chewed, first 

 cause a sensation of bitterness, which is soon followed by a consider- 

 able degree of sweetness ; and hence the plant obtained the name 

 of Bittersweet. The berries have not yet been applied to medical 

 use ; they seem to act powerfully upon the prims via, exciting vio- 

 lent vomiting and purging ; thirty of them were given to a dog, 

 which soon became mad, and died in the space of three hours, and 

 upon opening his stomach, the berries were discovered to have under- 

 gone no change by the power of digestion ; there can therefore be 

 little doubt of the deleterious effects of these berries; and as they 

 are very common in the hedges, and may be easily mistaken by 

 children for red currants, which they somewhat resemble, this cir- 

 cumstance is the more worthy of notice. The stirpiles, or younger 

 branches, are directed for use, in the Edinburgh Pharm. and they 

 may be employed either fresh or dried, making a proportionate al- 

 lowance in the dose of the latter for some diminution of its powers 

 by drying. In autumn, when the leaves are fallen, the sensible qua- 

 lities of the plant are said to be the strongest, and on this account 

 it should be gathered in autumn rather than in spring. 



Dulcamara does not manifest those narcotic qualities, which are 

 common to many of the nightshades ; it is however very generally 

 admitted to be a medicine of considerable efficacy. Murray says 

 that it promotes all the secretions ; Mailer observes that it partakes 

 of the milder powers of the Nightshade, joined to a resolvent and 

 saponaceous quality ; and the opinion of Bergius seems to coincide 

 with that of Murray. 



