BED OR REDDISH PURPLE 125 



NIGHTSHADE. BITTERSWEET 

 Solanum Dulcamara Potato Family 



Fruit. — The oval berries grow in clusters 

 from the sides of the stem. In ripening, the 

 berries change from green through yellow and 

 orange to a bright red, often making a brilliant 

 array of colors in the cluster. The berries are 

 translucent with a thin skin, red pulp, and many 

 seeds arranged around an axial placenta. The 

 five-pointed, starlike calyx is at the base of the 

 berry, which is borne on a stem about as long as 

 itself. The general consensus of opinion seems 

 to be that the berry is poisonous, especially if 

 eaten in any quantity. It begins to ripen in 

 July and hangs long upon the vines. 



Thoreau, in describing this fruit, says : " The 

 Solanum Dulcamara berries are another kind 

 which grow in drooping clusters. I do not 

 know any clusters more graceful and beautiful 

 than these drooping cymes of scented or translu- 

 cent, cherry-colored, elliptical berries. . . . Yet 

 they are considered poisonous ; not to look 

 at surely. . . . Bat why should they not be 

 poisonous ? Would it not be bad taste to eat 



