684 A TEXT-BOOK OF BOTANY. 



and sometimes become enlarged or inflated. The seeds have a 

 large reserve layer, and the embryo is frequently curved. 



Datura Stramonium (Jimson weed, thorn apple) is a large, 

 annual, branching herb, found in waste places in the United States 

 and parts of Canada, being naturalized from Asia. The leaves 

 and flowering tops are official. The large, spiny capsule is shown 

 in Fig. 236, B. D. fastuosa (Fig. 375) has similar medicinal 

 properties. 



Atropa Belladonna (Deadly nightshade) is a perennial herb 

 producing a large, fleshy root, which is used in medicine (Fig. 

 376), as are also the leaves and flowering tops. 



Scopolia carniolica is a perennial herb with nearly entire or 

 somewhat irregularly toothed leaves. The flowers are campan- 

 ulate and dark purple. The fruit is a globular, transversely dehis- 

 cent eapsule (pyxidium). 



Hyoscyanms niger or henbane is a biennial herb (Fig. 377), 

 the leaves and flowering tops of which are official. 



Pichi is the dried leafy twigs of Fabiana imbricata, a shrub 

 with small, scale-like leaves, indigenous to Chile. It contains a 

 volatile oil; o.i per cent, of a bitter alkaloid; a glucoside resem- 

 bling aesculin ; and a bitter resin. 



Solanum Dulcamara (Bitter sweet) is a perennial, climbing 

 herbaceous plant, indigenous to Europe and Asia and naturalized 

 in the Northern United States. The branches which have begun 

 to develop periderm are collected, and were formerly official as 

 DULCAMARA. They are cut into pieces 10 to 20 mm. long which 

 are greenish-brown, hollow, with a sweetish, bitter taste and 

 contain a glucoside, dulcamarin, and the gluco-alkaloid solanine 



(Fig. 378). 



Solanum carolinense (Horse nettle) is a perennial herb having 

 numerous yellow prickles on the branches and leaves. The leaves 

 are oblong or ovate, irregularly lobed (Fig. 379). The flowers 

 are white or light blue and occur in lateral cymes. The fruit is 

 an orange-yellow, glabrous berry. The plant is common in waste 

 places in Canada and the United States east of the Mississippi. 

 The root and berries are used in medicine. The root is simple 

 and quite long, 5 to 10 mm. in diameter, yellowish-brown, the 

 bark readily separating from the wood. It has a narcotic odor 



