ggg FLORA OF TASMANIA. [Solanea. 
rollse alterna; antheris ssepissime conniventibus, apice poro gemino dehiscentibus. Bacca subglobosa, 
2- (rarius 4-) locularis. Semina albuminosa; embryone curvato.— Herbee v. frutices; foliis alternis, indi- 
visis, lobatis pinnatisectisve j inflorescentia sapitw cymosa, extra-alar i. 
About thirty Australian Solaria have been described, the majority of, which are natives of the subtropical 
eastern parts of the continent, but there are also many extratropical species. The genus has the peduncle of the 
flowers (which are usually in cymes) often adnate to the branch for a considerable distance above the axd of the 
leaf to which it belongs.— Calyx quinquefid or quadrifid. Corolla with four or five plaited lobes. Stamens five, 
with the long anthers generally placed so closely together as to form a cone in the middle of the flower, their cells 
bursting by terminal pores. Fruit a two- to four-celled berry, with numerous albuminous seeds, containing a 
curved embryo. (Name of doubtful origin.) 
1. Solanum nigrum (Linn. Sp. PL 266) ; pubescens v. glabratum, caule herbaceo angulato angulis 
subalatis, foliis gracile petiolatis ovatis ellipticisve sinuato-angulatis acutis membranaceis, cymis lateralibus 
subumbellatis, floribus parvis, baccis globosis. — Br. Prodr. 445; Fl. N. Zeal. i. 182. {Gunn, 51.) 
Hab. Throughout the Island, in waste places (especially near the sea), by roadsides, etc. — (FL all 
Distrib. Common in most temperate and tropical countries. (A native of England.) 
An extremely common and variable plant. — Stem herbaceous, angled, the angles sometimes slightly winged. 
Branches slender. Leaves membranous, on long petioles, lamina 1-3 inches long, ovate or elliptical, acute, variously 
angled, sinuate or coarsely toothed. Cymes peduucled, few-flowered. Flowers white or yellowish, subumbellate, 
small, about J inch across. Sepals blunt. Corolla truncate. Berry about the size of a pea, whitish, yellow, black, 
or red, but I have seen only the yellow and black varieties in Australia and Tasmania. 
2. Solanum aviculare (Forst. Prodr. 107) ; herbaceum, basi fraticosum, glabrum, foliis membra- 
naceis lineari-lanceolatis v. ovato-lanceolatis subacutis integris v. varie profunde pinnatifidis laciniis lineari- 
elongatis brevibusve, cymis axillaribus v. extra-alaribus, calyce breviter 5-fido, corollge lobis acutis obtnsis 
emargmatisve, antheris non conniventibus, baccis subglobosis v. ovoideis. — FL N. Zeal. i. 182; Dunal in 
DC. Prodr. xiii. 69. S. laciniatum, Ait. Hort. Kew. i. 247 ; Br. Prodr. 445 ; Bot. Mag. 349 ; Lodd. 
Bot. Cab. 717. {Gunn, 376.) 
Hab. Common in damp, shaded woods, etc. — (Fl. Oct.-Dec.) (v. v.) 
Distrib. Tropical and temperate Eastern Australia ; Timor ? ; New Zealand. (Introduced into Eng- 
land.) 
A very handsome plant, which Gunn states is tender, and annually killed by the frost at Launceston: this 
however is not the case at Hobarton, where it is very common. It is also a very variable plant, and Gunn suspects 
that the Tasmaniau species may not be the same as a Port Phillip one, though he adds that they are undistinguish- 
ftbk m I dry state. It is only natural to suppose that so considerable a difference of latitude and other features as 
the opposite sides of Bass' Straits present, should be accompanied with a recognizable difference in the habit 
ot a succulent, herbaceous plant, belonging to so variable a genus as Solatium. On the other hand, Mueller dis- 
tinguishes two Victoria species,— -one, the common S. laciniatum, and the other, his S. vesciim (the Gumjantj of the 
aborigines), which is probabh the typical S. ndcidare of Porster, which I have considered not specifically distinct 
from S. laciniatum, and which is eaten abundantly in New Zealand by man. Whether, then, there are two species 
or one, or, what is most probable, several well-marked varieties of one, must be left to the local botanist to deter- 
mine ; what characters there may be must be very insignificant, to be destroyed in the operation of a careful drying. 
The length and breadth of the lobes of the corolla seem to be particularly liable to vary.— A stout, succulent, gla- 
brous, branched herb, 1-3 feet high, with woody base to the stem. Leaves 2-8 inches long, narrow-lanceolate and 
qmte entire, or laciniate with many long or short lateral lobes, and then more or less pinnatifid. Cymes two- or 
Floicei-s large, \~\\ inch across, generally of a dingy blue. Berry as large as a 
, spherical or ovoid, 
: green or purplish. 
