448 XCIX. SOLANACE^E. SOLANUM. 



8. SOLANUM. 



Calyx 5 10-parted, persistent ; cor. rotate, subcampanulate, tube 

 very short, limb plicate, 5 10-lobed; anth. erect, slightly cohering 

 or connivent, opening at the top by 2 pores ; berry 2 6-celled, sub- 

 globose or depressed, often torose ; seeds 00. Herbs or shrubs, un 

 armed or prickly. Lvs. sometimes geminate, pinnatifid or undivided. 

 Ped. solitary or several, 1 QQ-Jlowered. 



1. Berry 2-celled. Stem and leaves unarmed. 



1. S. DULCAMARA. Bittersweet. Woody Nightshade. 



St. shrubby, fiexuous, thornless ; Ivs. ovate-cordate, upper ones hastate ; 

 clusters cymose. A well-known, shrubby climber, with blue flowers and red 

 berries, N. Eng. to Ark. Stem branching, several feet in length, climbing 

 about hedges and thickets in low grounds. Lower leaves entire ; the upper 

 ones becoming auriculate or hastate. Flowers drooping, on branching pedun- 

 cles from the side of the stem. Corolla of 5 reflexed segments, purple, with 2 

 green spots at the base of each segment. Berries bright red. The root being 

 chewed, gives at first a sensation of bitterness, then of sweetness. The ber- 

 ries are poisonous. The leaves and twigs have been used medicinally with 

 good effect. July. 



2. S. NIGRUM. /?. Virginicum. Black Nightshade. 



St. herbaceous, thornless; Ivs. ovate, toothed and waved; umbels lateral, 

 drooping. (g) A weed-like plant without beauty and of suspicious aspect, 

 about rubbish, in old fields, N. and W. States. Stem erect, branching, angu- 

 lar, a foot high. Leaves almost always with the lamina perforated and the 

 margin erose as if gnawed by insects. Peduncles branching into a sort of um- 

 bel, from the side of the stem, generally remote from the leaves. Flowers 

 white, anthers yellow. Berries globose, black. It is reputed poisonous, but is 

 used medicinally. Flowers in summer. 



3. S. TUBEROSUM. Common Potato. fit. tuberous ; st. herbaceous ; segments 

 of the Ivs. unequal, the alternate ones minute ;fls. subcorymbed; cor. 5-angled. 

 () This most valuable plant is supposed to be a native of S. America, where 

 it still grows wild. Although it now constitutes so large a portion of the food 

 of civilized man, it was scarcely known until the 17th century, and was not 

 extensively cultivated before the middle of the 18th. The varieties of the po- 

 tato are very numerous, differing in their time of ripening, quality, color, form, 

 size. &c. New varieties are readily procured by sowing the seeds, which, with 

 care, will produce good tubers the third year. Potatoes thus reared, are now 

 thought to be less liable to the " potato rot." ^ 



4. S. PSEUDO-CAPSICUM. Jerusalem Cherry. St. shrubby ; Ivs. oblong-lanceo- 

 late, subrepand; ped. 1-flowered, opposite the leaves. Tj A small, ornamental 

 shrub, native of Madeira, cultivated. Stem 2 4f high, branching into a sym- 

 metrical summit. Leaves dark evergreen, smooth and shining, about 2' long. 

 Flowers white, with orange anthers, drooping, succeeded by a few scarlet, glo- 

 bose berries of the size of small cherries, f 



2. Berry 2-celled. Stems and leaves prickly. 



5. S. CAROLINENSE. Horse Nettle. 



St. and petioles aculeate ; Ivs. oblong-ovate, petiolate, strigose, angular- 

 lobate, acute, midvein beneath with a few spines ; roc. loose, supra-axillary, 

 few-flowered ; berries globose. 7J. Roadsides, &c., Penn. to Car. ! W. to la. ! 

 and 111. ! A rough weed, 1 2f high, armed with straw-colored, scattered 

 prickles. Leaves 4 6' by 2 3', usually in unequal pairs, with a few large, 

 repand lobes or teeth. Flowers white, lateral and terminal. Corolla white, 

 12 15" diam. Berries yellowish. June. 



6. S. MELONGENA. (S. insanum. L.) Egg Plant. St. prickly ; Ivs. ovate, 

 subsinuate, downy, prickly ; fls. many-parted. An herbaceous, branching 

 plant, about 2f high. The fruit, with which it is heavily laden, consists of 

 ?gg-shaped berries, from the size of an egg to that of an ordinary water melon, 



