192 DATURA STRAMONIUM 



downy. Flowers solitary in the forks (terminal ?), shortly stalked. 

 Calyx IJi nches long or more, pale green, thin, tubular, with 5 

 short triangular teeth, from each of which a sharp fold or ridge runs 

 down to the base, deciduous, except a small persistent part at the 

 base from which the remainder comes away by a circular fission. 

 Corolla plicate in the bud, tubular-funnel-shaped, 3 4 inches 

 long, and 2 inches wide at the mouth, with 5 plaits and 

 5 spreading or recurved lobes, with acuminated almost filiform 

 points, white, delicate. Stamens 5, inserted in the corolla-tube 

 and included in it, equal ; anthers small, dehiscing longitudinally. 

 Ovary of 2 carpels, pyramidal, 4-lobed, covered with close erect 

 processes, imperfectly 4-celled in the lower part by the outgrowth 

 of a false dissepiment from the dorsal sutures of the carpels to the 

 axile placentas ; style about as- long as stamens ; stigma bilateral, 

 blunt. Fruit about 2 inches long, erect, ovoid, rounded- 

 quadrangular in section, surrounded at the base by the enlarged 

 and reflexed persistent base of the calyx, thickly set with unequal 

 sharp rigid spines, nearly completely 4-celled ; pericarp leathery, 

 dehiscing by 4 valves about half way down. Seeds very 

 numerous, closely packed, and flattened horizontally, somewhat 

 kidney- shaped, about 5 inch long; testa very dark brown, with 

 large shallow pits, and also a minute reticulation ; embryo much 

 curved and surrounded by endosperm. 



Habitat. The Thorn-apple is considered by De Candolle to be 

 originally from the countries bordering the Caspian. It is now 

 spread throughout the world except in the colder temperate and 

 arctic regions, and is especially abundant in Southern Europe. 

 Its introduction into Central Europe does not appear to have 

 taken place before the middle of the 16th century. It is usually 

 found in rich waste ground, or as a garden weed, and is not 

 unfrequent in the south of England under such conditions, but 

 can scarcely be considered naturalised here. In the United 

 States of America it is a familiar weed. 



Whether D. Tatula, Linn., is to be considered distinct from 

 the present species is undecided, but the differences are very 

 slight, merely consisting of the purple colour of the stems and 



