SOLAXACKJE. (NIGHTSHADE FAMILY.) 381 



(very small, white) in small and umbel-like lateral clusters, drooping; berries 

 globular, blaek. — Shaded grounds and fields : common. July - Sept. — A 

 homely weed, said to be poisonous. (Nat. from Eu.) 



* * Anthers elongated, lanceolate, pointed. (Plants mostly prickly.) 

 3. S. Carolin6nse, L. (Horse-Nettle.) Perennial, low (1° high); 

 stem erect, prickly ; leaves ovate-oblong, acute, sinuate-toothed or angled, 

 roughish with stellate pubescence, prickly along the midrib, as also the calyx ; 

 flowers (pale blue or white, large) in simple loose racemes; berries globular, 

 orange-yellow. — Sandy soil, Connecticut to Illinois and southward. June- 

 Aug. (S. Virginianum, L., is not here identified as distinct.) 



2. PHYSALIS, L. Ground Cherry. 



Calyx 5-cleft, reticulated and enlarging after flowering, at length much in- 

 flated and enclosing the 2-celled globular (edible) berry. Corolla between 

 wheel-shaped and funnel-form, the very short tube marked with 5 concave 

 spots at the base ; the plaited border somewhat 5-lobed or barely 5- 10-tootbed. 

 Stamens 5, erect: anthers separate, opening lengthwise. — Herbs (in this coun- 

 try), with the leaves often unequally in pairs, and the 1 -flowered nodding pe- 

 duncles extra-axillary; flowering through the summer. (Name, (pvaakis, a 

 bladder, from the inflated calyx.) 



* Boot annual : anthers tinged with blue or violet : stems 1° -3° high. 

 +*• Corolla white, large. 



1 . P. grandiflbra, Hook. Clammy-pubescent, erect ; leaves lance-ovate, 

 pointed, entire or nearly so ; corolla V-2 1 wide when expanded, almost entire, 

 and with a woolly ring in the throat ; fruiting calyx globular, apparently nearly 

 filled by the berry. — Upper Michigan, shore of Lake Superior (Dr. Robbins, 

 &c.) and northward, springing up in new clearings. 



+" •*- Corolla pale or greenish-yellow, small or smallish. 



2. P. Philadelphica, Lam. Almost glabrous, erect ; leaves ovate or ob- 

 long-ovate, oblique at base, entire, repand, or very sparingly angulate-toothed ; 

 corolla brownish- or violet-spotted in the centre, 7"- 10' 'broad; calyx at maturity 

 globose and completely filled by the large reddish or purple berry and open at 

 the mouth. — Rich grounds, not rare, especially southward : also cult. 



3. P. angulata, L. Glabrous or nearly so, erect, much branched ; leaves 

 ovate or ovate-oblong, sharply and irregularly laciniate-toothed ; peduncles fili- 

 form ; corolla unspotted, very small (3"- 6" broad when expanded) ; fruiting calyx 

 conical-ovate with a truncate or sunken base, 10-angled, loosely inflated, but at 

 length well filled by the greenish-yellow berry. — Cult, and waste grounds. 



4. P. pub^scens, L. Pubescent or clammy-hairy (rarely smoothish) dif- 

 fusely much branched or at length decumbent; leaves ovate or heart-shaped, angu- 

 late- or repand-toothed ; corolla spotted with brown-purple in the centre, 5" -6" 

 broad when expanded, obscurely 5 -10-toothed ; fruiting calyx ovate from a 

 truncate or impressed base, pointed, sharply 5-angled, loosely enclosing the 

 yellow or greenish berry. (P. hirsuta, Dunal. P. obscura, Michx. in part.) — 

 Low grounds : common, especially southward and westward. 



