COROLLIFLORJE. 



151 



Myosotis. 1. Throat cut open. 2. A pistil. 3. Ripe fruit with two of the nuts 

 remaining, and the scars of two that have dropped off. 4. A perpendicular section 

 of a nut. 



115. Solanacete. Herbaceous plants or shrubs. Leaves 

 alternate, sometimes collateral. Inflorescence often out of the 

 axil ; pedicels without bracts. Calyx permanent, inferior. 

 Corolla regular, or somewhat unequal, plaited. Stamens in- 

 serted upon the corolla. Ovary 2-celled ; stigma simple. 

 Pericarp with 2 or 4 cells. Seeds numerous ; embryo usually 

 curved in fleshy albumen. 



USES. Many are narcotic, as Tobacco, Henbane, Stramo- 

 nium, Bitter-sweet, and Deadly Nightshade, or Belladonna. 

 The fruit of others is almost free from deleterious qualities, 

 and eatable ; as the Aubergine, Solanum esculentum, Tomatoes, 

 or Solanum Lycopersicon, Physalis edulis, and many others. 

 In some species starch is collected in great quantity, and 

 renders them fit for food, as in the tubers of the Potatoe, So- 

 lanum tuberosum. 



TYPICAL GENERA. Solanum, Datura, Physalis. 



Petunia violacea. 1. A cross section of the ovary. 2. Ripe fruit of Solanum 

 Dulcamara. 3. A section of one of its seeds. 



116. Hydrophyllacea. Herbaceous plants. Leaves 

 usually lobed. Inflorescence often gyrate. Calyx inferior, 

 5-cleft, with reflexed appendages. Corolla regular. Stamens 

 5, epipetalous. Ovary simple, 1-celled ; placentae 2. Fruit 

 2-valved. Seeds reticulated ; embryo cartilaginous. 



