SOLANACEAE (NIGHTSHADE FAMILY) 363 



what puckered and wrinkled, sessile or with very short petioles. 

 Flowers pale purple, in terminal, narrow, pointed, usually inter- 

 rupted spikes, the subtending bracts long-pointed and conspicuous ; 

 calyx-teeth equal, smooth or only slightly hairy and nearly as long 

 as the tube of the corolla which is smooth with upper lip entire 

 or sometimes slightly notched, the lower lip with three rounded 

 lobes ; stamens all four of the same length, erect, included. 

 (Fig. 253.) 

 Means of control the same as for Peppermint. 



BITTERSWEET NIGHTSHADE 

 Solanum Dulcamara, L. 



[Other English names: Woody Nightshade, Blue Bindweed, Felon- 

 wort, Poison Berry. 



Introduced. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom : May to September. 



Seed-tim^e: First fruits ripe in August but late clusters often cling to 

 the vine until winter. 



Range: New Brunswick to Minnesota, southward to Georgia and 

 Kansas. 



Habitat: Moist banks, fence rows, thickets, and around dwellings. 



The fruits of this plant are not dangerously poisonous, but are 

 sufficiently so to bring on unpleasant sensations of nausea and 

 cramp, particularly if the seeds are well ripened. Birds eat the 

 fruits, however, without, any apparent harmful effect, and void 

 the seeds along fences and about house grounds and hedges, and the 

 plants spring up where young children might find the berries and 

 be tempted to eat them. 



Stem slender, two to ten feet in length, round and smooth, or 

 slightly hairy wiien young. Leaves alternate, thin, dark green, 

 entire, with slim, grooved petioles, the lower ones ovate to heart- 

 shaped, the upper ones halberd-shaped or with two lateral ear-like 

 lobes at the base which often become separate leaflets. Flowers in 

 small cymose clusters, on short, slender peduncles springing from 

 the side of the stem between the leaves ; corolla violet-blue or 

 purple, wheel-shaped, with five pointed lobes ; stamens five, inserted 

 on the throat of the corolla, the anthers uniting in a cone around 

 the style; ovary two-celled; calyx-lobes short and obtuse, per- 



