380 



HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



even the i'niit, are full of an acrid milky juice; 

 but the fruit is eaten with sugar and pepper, like 

 melon; and when the half grown fruit is pro- 

 perly pickled, it is but little inferior to the 

 pickled mango of the East Indies. There are 

 many forms in the fruit, and some vai'ietics in 

 the colour of the flower of the papaw: and there 

 is also a dwarf species; though, as this has been 

 observed chiefly in arid situations, it may be the 

 common sort stunted for want of moisture. 



Love Apple, (solanum lycopersicum.) The 

 natural family solanece, contains plants for the 

 most part of a narcotic and poisonous quality, 

 as the deadly nightshade, henbane, strammonium, 

 tobacco, and several others. It also contains a 

 species whose roots are edible, the potato already 

 described, and the following edible fruits. 



142. 



Egg Pllint. 



The love apple, or tomata, is a native of the 

 tropical parts of South America; but as it now 

 thrives well in the warmer countries of Europe, 

 and will, if the plants are forwarded in a hot-bed 

 in the early part of the season, produce fruit 

 with as much certainty in this country, upon a 

 warm border, it may be considered as naturalized 

 in the temperate regions. It is an annual: the 

 leaves and flowers have some resemblance to those 

 of the potato, only the latter are j'ellow. The 

 fruit, when ripe, attains the size of a small apple. 

 It is compressed at the crown and base, and fur- 

 rowed along the sides; the whole is of uniform 

 coloui', and smooth and shining. There are some 

 varieties.both in the shape and colour of the 

 fruit; bright red and orange are the prevailing 

 coloura. The love apple is used for eating in 

 every stage of its gi'owth. When green, it is 

 pickled or preserved; when ripe, it is employed 

 tor soups and sauces, and the juice is made into 

 a kind of ketchup. In this country, however, 

 where the culture requires a good deal of care, 

 except in favourable situations, the love apple is 

 not in very general use; but in warmer countries 

 it is in much more esteem, so that in Italy, whole 

 fields are covered with it, and it is a general 

 article at table. 



Humboldt describes a species of the solanum, 

 which he conceives indigenous to the isle of Cura, 

 and which b at present cultivated in many parts 



of South America. The fruit is round and small, 

 but very savoury. 



The egg plant belongs to tlie same family, has 

 the same habits, and requires nearly the same 

 culture as the love-apple. It is found in the 

 warmer parts of Africa, Asia, and America: it 

 is an annual; rises to the height of about two 

 feet; bears light violet flowers, which are followed 

 by large fleshy beiTies, having the size and shape, 

 and, in the white varieties, very much the colour 

 and resemblance of eggs, whence the common 

 name. The forms of the eg^ plant are globe- 

 shaped and oval; and some of both forms are 

 white, and others purple or mottled. The egg 

 plant, according to the Hortus Kewensis, has 

 been cultivated in England since the year 1596; 

 but it has seldom been made use of as an article 

 of cookery. Even on the continent, where the 

 temperature agrees better with its habits, it has 

 not so much flavour as the love apple; but still it 

 is used in soups and stews, and is also eaten sliced 

 and fried with oil or butter. Though the young 

 plants require to be forwarded in a hot-bed, they 

 may afterwards be made to produce fruit on 

 warm and sheltered borders; and both they and 

 the love apple succeed best when placed against 

 a sunny wall. 



Besides the white egg plant, (the solanum mc- 

 longena of Linna;us,) which has been long culti- 

 vated as a curiosity, though never used as food, 

 there are several others; and M. Dunal, in hia 

 History of Solanums, has separated the edible 

 ones, of which he has enumerated four varieties, 

 into the species of solanum esctdentum. The 

 round and the long variety of the esculent are 

 both cultivated in the garden of the Horticul- 

 tural Society. The plants, which are annuals, 

 are raised to the height of nina or ten inches in 

 the stove, and then planted on the borders in the 

 open air, where they grow to the height of be- 

 tween two and three feet. The fruits of both 

 are large: the round, or rather oval (for that is its 

 proper shape, is four inches long, and about three 

 thick. This variety is called the Mammoth eg^ 

 plant. The long has larger fruit, measuring 

 sometimes as much as eight inches in length. 

 They vary much more in colour than the round, 

 some of them being streaked with yellow. Other 

 varieties are described as being found in India; 

 but the seeds that have been sent to this country 

 have produced fruit similar to the kinds now 

 mentioned. 



Various species of the solanum are common in 

 the Levant : and three are particularly described 

 by Dr Walsh in the Horticultural Transactions. 

 The following is the substance of his communi- 

 cation : 



Solanum JEthiopicum is the scarlet egg plant, 

 of which the fruit is produced in the neighbour- 

 hood of Constantinople; but it is rare, being 

 never sold in the markets, and but seldom seen 



