NIGHTSHADE. 171 



Description. — The root is perennial, vivacious, long, thick, 

 creeping, branched, fleshy and of a yellowish colour. The 

 stems are herbaceous, cylindrical, erect, pubescent, dichoto- 

 mously branched, often tinged with purple, and rising to the 

 height of three feet or more. The leaves are shortly petiolate, 

 in opposite pairs of unequal size, some very large, ovate, 

 somewhat elliptical, acute, smooth and soft, veiny, and of a 

 lurid green colour. The flowers are solitary, axillary, droop- 

 ing, supported on a round viscid peduncle, of about the same 

 length as the flower. The calyx is deeply divided into five 

 ovate, acuminate, persistent, viscous segments. The corolla is 

 campanulate, pubescent, of a lurid glossy purple externally ; 

 the tube short, whitish, somewhat ventricose ; the limb divided 

 into five equal, ovate, acuminate, somewhat recurved segments. 

 The five stamens are about as long as the corolla, with the fila- 

 ments inserted into the tube, incurved at the summit, pubescent 

 below, supporting roundish, ovate, two-lobed anthers. The ger- 

 men is superior, spheroidal, with a groove on each side, and a 

 nectariferous gland at the base, supporting a simple declined 

 Style, at first shorter than, ultimately as long as the corolla, ter- 

 minated by a capitate greenish stigma. The fruit is a black glossy 

 berry, about the siee of a small cherry, subtended by the persist- 

 ent calyx, divided into two cells, containing several reniform 

 seeds, attached to a placenta, and surrounded by pulp. Plate 35 t 

 fig. 2, (a) corolla opened to show the stamens ; (6) pistil ; (c) 

 transverse section of the berry ; (d) seed magnified. 



This plant is a native of Europe as far north as Norway, grow- 

 ing on mountains, in shady defiles, copses, and hedge-rows ; but 

 is not found in Sweden. In this country it is perhaps not 

 truly indigenous, being generally met with near towns and the 

 ruins of ancient buildings, particularly in places occupied by 

 the Roman army, or near Roman encampments or fortifications, 

 which encourages the supposition that it was introduced into 

 this country by the Romans. It has been found at Wisbeach, 

 in the Isle of Ely ; near Royston, Hertfordshire ; Box Hill, near 

 Dorking, Surrey ; and very abundantly in the vicinity of the ruins 

 of Furness Abbey, on which account its place of growth is called 

 the Vale of Nightshade. Mr. Curtis * observes, * I have fre- 

 quently noticed it in many of the chalk-pits in Kent ; and on 

 Keep Hill, near High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Close by 

 * Flora Londinensis, vol. i. 



