CLASS V. ORDER 1. | SOtANtJM. 281 



tagious disorder. It should at first be administered in small doses, 

 gradually and cautiously increasing it. 



GENUS XXVI. SOLA'NUM.— Linn. Mght-skade. 



Nat. Ord. Solan'eje; Jess. 



Gen. Char. Calyx five or ten partite. Corolla wheel-shaped. 

 Anthers connivent, oblong, opening with two pores at the ex- 

 tremity. Berry roundish, two or more celled. — Name thought to 

 be derived from xolor, to comfort, on account of the medicinal 

 properties of some of the species. 

 1. S. Diilcam'ara, Linn. (Fig. 357.) Woody Night-shade, or Bitter- 

 sweet, Stem shrubly, flexuous, climbing, leaves ovate, cordate, upper 

 ones hastate, corymbs drooping, inserted opposite the leaves. 



English Botany, t. 565.— English Flora, vol. i. p. 318. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 111. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 182. 



Root woody, of numerous long slender branches, and tufts of 

 branched fibres. Stem woody, slender, straggling, branched, several 

 feet long, especially when supported by other plants, roundish and 

 smooth below, downy towards the extremities. Leaves smooth, alter- 

 nate on footstalks, the lower ones ovate, heart-shaped at the base, the 

 upper ones narrower, and mostly hastate at the base, a palish green, 

 with a mid-rib, and numerous lateral branched veins. Inflorescence a 

 lax branched corymb, on a longish stalk, arising opposite the leaves. 

 Flowers numerous, dark purple, on a mostly smooth pedicle, arising 

 from a swollen bractea. Calyx smooth, persistent, of five or ten obtuse 

 segments. Corolla wheel-shaped, with a very short tube, the limb 

 spreading, of from four to sis segments, ovate-lanceolate, each with 

 two green tubercles at the base, the margins finely ciliated. Stamens 

 from four to six, according to the number of the segments of the 

 corolla, but five is by far the most usual number. Filaments very 

 short around the mouth of the tube of the corolla. Anthers long, 

 yellow, large, united together in a hollow cone-shaped manner, each 

 opening at the extremity by a small pore. Style in the middle, and 

 longer than the stamens. Stiyma rather small, obtuse. Fruit an 

 ovate berry, bright scarlet or yellow, having from two to six cells, and 

 numerous roundish compressed seeds in the midst of the soft pulp. 



Habitat. — Hedges and bushes ; frequent in England, less so in 

 Scotland and Ireland. 



Shrub ; flowering in June and July. 



/9. tomentoswn. Stems and leaves more or less clothed with a soft 

 down. 



