282 :P SOIANUM, fci-ASS V, ORDER I. 



A variety occasionally found in dry places, as on old walls, &c. 



The Bitter-sweet or felon-wood has been usually considered a very 

 poisonous plant, but from the experiments of Orfila and others, it does 

 not appear to possess by any means active poisonous properties ; it 

 has the same effect as Hj'oscyamus, but in a much feebler degree. 

 M. Dumal has given to a dog 180 berries, or four ounces of the extract, 

 without producing any ill effects, and he quotes an experiment on the 

 human subject, where thirty-two drachms of extract were taken with- 

 out injury. From which it would appear that it is scarcely entitled 

 to the name of a poisonous plant. The same may be also stated with 

 re.spect to the following plant, .S'. nigrum^ which is, perhaps, the most 

 active of the two species ; but Orfila says it is not stronger than lettuce 

 opium. Subjected to chemical analysis, M. Desfosses discovered their 

 active principle to reside in a peculiar alkaloid, which is named 

 solanine, or solania, possessing narcotic properties, but is not an active 

 poison. 



The roots and stems of this plant are the parts used medicinally ; 

 when chewed, they have at first a bitter taste, which shortly changes to 

 a considerable degree of sweetness; and hence it is that the plant has 

 obtained the name of Bitter-siueet It is narcotic, and has been found 

 useful in humoral asthma, dropsy, and chronic rheumatism, but more 

 especially in cutaneous diseases; and we have known it used to a con- 

 siderable extent in syphillitic affections in place of sarsaparilla, and 

 apparently with equal benefit as that far more expensive medicine. 

 It is generally used in the form of infusion or decoction, but requires 

 cautious watching in its administration, in not giving too large a dose, 

 producing in such cases nausea, vomiting, fainting, and palpitation ; 

 if such symptoms occur, the dose must be diminished, and the addition 

 of some aromatic is advisable. 



2. >S'. ni'cjrum, Linn. (Fig. 358.) common or Garden Night-shade. 

 Stem herbaceous, leaves ovate, toothed and waved, umbels simple, 

 lateral, drooping. 



English Botany, t. 566.— English Flora, vol. i. p. 319.— Hooker, 

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



Root annual, much branched. Stem erect, much branched and 

 spreading, from one to two feet high, angular, or slightly winged, 

 especially the branches, and scattered over especially towards the ex- 

 tremities, with soft hairs. Leaves numerous, alternate, on footstalks, 

 smooth, or slightly hairy, ovate, bluntly toothed or waved, somewhat 

 decurrent at the base, with a mid-rib, and numerous lateral veins. 

 Inflorescence a simple racemose umbel, on a short hairy stalk, arising 

 solitary from the stem, in the space between the branches, mostly 

 about an inch below the upper branch. Floivers not very numerous, 

 whitish, with a musky scent, drooping, each on a short hairy /?erftcZe, 

 thickened towards the extremity. Calyx of five obtusely angular 



