THE NIGHTSHADE TRIBE. 185 



Thorn-apple, with the half fabulous Mandrake, 

 whose roots were said to shriek as they were torn 

 from the earth to give effect to magical incantations, 

 form, with a number of other plants, a large natural 

 order, the prevailing quality of which is to be poison- 

 ous. Many of them are common wild plants, and 

 none more so than the species called Black Night- 

 shade (Solanum nigrum), which is sure to spring up 

 wherever a spot of ground is neglected, and suffered 

 to become waste. It is to this plant I shall trust 

 for explaining the general character of the Night- 

 shade tribe. 



Black Nightshade is a plant with broadly lance- 

 shaped leaves, slightly toothed at the edge, and 

 seated alternately upon the stem (Plate XV. 2.). Its 

 flowers consist of a short five-toothed calyx, of a mo- 

 nopetalous corolla, with five equal di\dsions (^fig. 1.), 

 of five equal stamens, and of an ovary {fig. 2**.) 

 with two cells, in each of which is a number of 

 ovules. The style of the ovary is thick and shaggy 

 at the bottom, and terminated by a thickened undi- 

 vided stioTna. The fi'uit is a small black berrv, 

 containing two cells, and a number of yellowish 

 seeds, whose skin is covered closely with little pits 

 {fig- 4.) ; in the inside is an embryo, which is coiled 

 up upon itself in the middle of a quantity of fleshy 

 albumen {fig. 5.). Of these characters, the most es- 

 sential ones are the superior ovary with two cells, the 

 regular fiower, and the alternate leaves. The last point 

 distinguishes the Nightshade tribe from the Gen- 

 tians, and you will find, by and bye, that the two 



