244 ^'EW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Climbing or Bitter Nightshade; Bittersweet 



Solamiiii diilcdiiKird Linnaeus 



Plate l.u.i 



A climbing vine, herbaceous above, usually somewhat woody and 

 perennial below, smooth or pubescent, branching, 2 to 8 feet long. Leaves 

 petioled, ovate or hastate, three-lobed or sometimes entire or only two- 

 lobed, with the terminal lobe much the largest, the margins otherwise 

 entire, 2 to 4 inches long, i to 2h inches wide with a pointed apex. Flowers 

 arranged in compound lateral cymes on slender, drooping stalks. Calyx 

 five-cleft; corolla blue, violet or white, about one-half of an inch broad, 

 rotate, five-lobed, the lobes triangular-lanceolate, slender pointed and 

 curved baclcvvard. Stamens five; attached to the throat of the corolla, 

 their filaments short; the anthers long and narrow, united to form a cone. 

 Berry oval or globose, turning from yellow to orange and finally becoming 

 bright red. 



In waste places or moist woods and thickets. Nova Scotia to Minnesota 

 and Washington, south to New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Kansas. Native 

 of Europe, but thoroughly naturalized in our eastern states. 



The genus Solanum contains a number of cultivated species, weeds 

 and adventive plants. The Black, Deadly or Garden Nightshade 

 (Solanum nigrum Linnaeus), with white flowers and black bemes, 

 is a common weed almost everywhere. The Sand Brier (Solanum 

 carolinense Linnaeus) has prickly stems and leaves and smooth, 

 orange-yellow berries. The Sand Bur (Solanum r o s t r a t u m Dunal) 

 has yellow flowers about an inch broad, prickly stems and leaves and the 

 berry inclosed by the prickly, enlarged calyx. The Potato (Solanum 

 tuberosum Linnaeus) is also a member of this group, while the Tomato 

 is classed in the related genus Lycopersicon. 



