io6 PLANTS GROWING IN MOIST SOIL. 



NIGHTSHADE. BITTER SWEET. SCARLET BERRY. 



Solanui7i dulcainara. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Nightshade. Purple, dotted with green. Scentless. Maine ivestzvard. June-September. 



Flowers : growing in drooping cymes on slender flower-stalks. Calyx : five- 

 parted. Corolla: wheel-shaped; five-parted. Stamens: five; protruding; 

 Pistil: one. Fruit: a small, egg-shaped, red berry. Leaves: alternate; on 

 petioles; the lower one heart-shaped and pointed at the apex; the upper 

 ones divided into three, rarely five, unequal leaflets, the centre,one long, slightly 

 heart-shaped, the other two small and wing-like at base. Stem : three to eight 

 feet high; climbing; woody; smooth. 



Seldom can a more exquisite study in colour and outline be 

 found than the berries of the nightshade as they droop from 

 their zig-zag peduncles. They are also among those that can 

 boast of a perfect background. Their rich, fantastically 

 shaped leaves hover about them much as the night droops upon 

 and protects the earth. This, however, is purely imaginary, as 

 one is apt to become when gazing at the nightshade. 



The plant has been classed among the moderately poisonous 

 ones and owes the peculiar taste of its twigs and roots, first 

 bitter then sweet, to the presence of dulcamarin. 



MOCK APPLE. WILD BALSAM APPLE. {Plate XLIX) 



Micrdmpelis lobhta. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Gourd. Greenish white. Scentless. Maine southward July-September. 



and westward. 



Flowers : small; the staminate ones closely crowded in a raceme; the pistillate 

 ones growing singly. Fruit : large ; ovate; green; covered with slender spines. 

 Leaves : three to seven lobed, the middle lobe longest; deeply cordate at base; 

 serrated; rough on both sides. Stem : grooved; branching ; climbing by tendrils 

 that are three-forked. 



Unlike most of our climbers, we find this one in flower and 

 fruit at the same time. In its wild state it follows the rivers, 

 but throughout the east we find it mostly cultivated for orna- 

 ment. 



