58 WOODY NIGHTSHADE. 



form, the narcotic properties of this tribe; but 

 the heat Avhich prepares the vegetable for our 

 table, wholly removes any unwholesome principle. 



The twigs and stalks of the Bitter Sweet are 

 used by the Swedish peasants to bind around 

 their wooden cans, and the inhabitants of West- 

 phalia make a decoction of the whole plant, and 

 use it as a remedy for rheumatism. This species 

 is common throughout Europe, and also in many 

 parts of x\sia and North America. Most cattle 

 refuse its foliage, but the goat relishes it. 



There is a kind of Nightshade very frequent as 

 a weed in our gardens, on sea-beaches, and in 

 other waste places, with white flowers shaped like 

 those of the engraving, which are succeeded by 

 black berries. This is the garden Nightshade 

 [Solanum nigrum). The berries are, by us, con- 

 sidered a virulent poison ; but Backhouse mentions 

 that the people of Norfolk Island eat them, 

 though he observes that the climate probably 

 alters their properties. The Deadly Nightshade 

 is a dififerently formed flower from either of these, 

 and is a purple bell. It is the Atropa Belladonna 

 of the botanist. It bears black berries. 



