SOLANACE^. (NIGHTSHADE FAMILY.) 



1. SOLANUM, L. NIGHTSHADE. 



Calyx and the wheel-shaped corolla 5-parted or 5-cleft (rarely 4- 10-parted), 

 the latter plaited in the bud, with the margins of the lobes induplicate. Sta- 

 mens exserted, converging around the style : filaments very short : anthers 

 opening at the tip by two pores or chinks. Berry usually 2-celled. Herbs, or 

 shrubs in warm climates, the larger leaves often accompanied by a smaller lateral 

 (rameal) one ; the peduncles also mostly lateral and extra-axillary. (Name of 

 unknown derivation.) 



* Anthers blunt. (Plants not prickly.) 



1. S. DULCAMARA, L. (BITTERSWEET.) Stem somewhat shrubby, climbing, 

 nearly smooth; leaves ovate-heart-shaped, the upper halberd-shaped, or with two 

 ear-like lobes at the base ; flowers (purple) in small cymes; berries oval, scarlet. 

 Moist banks and around dwellings. (Nat. from Eu.) 



2. S. NiGRUM, L. (COMMON NIGHTSHADE.) Annual, low, much branched 

 %nd often spreading, rough on the angles; leaves ovate, wavy-toothed; flowers 

 (very small, white) in small and umbel-like lateral clusters, drooping; berries 

 globular, black. Shaded grounds, and fields; common. July, Aug. A 

 homely weed, said to be poisonous. (Nat. from Eu.) 



* * Anthers elongated, lanceolate, pointed. (Plants mostly prickly.) 



3. S. Carolineiise, L. (HORSE NETTLE.) Perennial, low (1 high); 

 stem erect, prickly; leaves ovate-oblong, acute, sinuate-toothed or angled, 

 roughish with stellate pubescence, prickly along the midrib, as also the calyx ; 

 flowers (pale blue or white, large) in simple loose racemes ; berries globular, 

 orange-yellow. Sandy soil; Connecticut to Illinois and southward, June 

 Aug. (S. Virginianum, L., is not here identified as distinct.) 



S. MAMM6suM, L., is not a native of our district. 



S. TUBER6suM, L., is the cultivated POTATO, and S. MELONGENA, L., the 

 EGG-PLANT. 



LYCOPERSICUM ESCULENTUM, Mill., is the TOMATO, now separated from 

 Solanum. 



2. PIIYSAI^IS, L. GROUND CHERRY. 



Calyx 5-cleft, reticulated and enlarging after flowering, at length much in- 

 flated and enclosing the 2-celled globular (edible) berry. Corolla spreading- 

 bell-shaped or somewhat funnel-form, with a very short tube, marked with 5 

 concave spots at the base ; the plaited border somewhat 5-lobed or 5-toothed. 

 Stamens 5, erect: anthers separate, opening lengthwise. Herbs (in this coun- 

 try), with the leaves often unequally in pairs, and the 1 -flowered nodding pe- 

 duncles extra-axillary. Corolla greenish-yellow in our species, often with 

 brownish spots in the throat. (Name, <j>vcra\is, a bladder, from the inflated 

 calyx.) 



# Root annual : anthers blue or violet. 



1. P. angiilsita, L. Glabrous, erect, much branched (2 -3 high); 

 leaves ovate or ovate-oblong, often very sharply toothed ; corolla somewhat 5- 



