solanace^e. 95 



SPECIES I.— SOLANUM DULCAMARA. Linn. 



Plate DCCCCXXX. 



Jteick Tc. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XX. Tab. MDCXXXIII. Figa. 1, 2. 

 BUM, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 160. 



Rootstock extensively creeping. Stem shrubby, flexuous, 

 without thorns. Leaves stalked, ovate, the upper ones often 

 hastate, or with 1 or more pair of rather small pinna? below the 

 large terminal lobe, which is acuminate and entire. Cymes 

 corymbose, mostly opposite the leaves. Flowers numerous, droop- 

 ing. Corolla 5-partite ; segments triangular-lanceolate, spreading- 

 recurved. Berries drooping, oval-ovoid, pointed. 



Var. a, gemiinum. 

 Stem elongated, climbing. Leaves thin. 



Var. /3, marinum. 

 Stem prostrate, much branched. Leaves fleshy. 

 Var. a in hedges and thickets and banks of ditches. Common, 

 and generally distributed in England, more rare in Scotland, but 

 reaching North to the counties of Aberdeen and Argvle. Var. $ 

 on shingle by the seashore in the southern counties of England 

 and the West of Ireland. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer. 



A soft-wooded shrub with weak stems, supporting themselves 

 on surrounding plants, 3 to 6 feet high or more. Bark of the main 

 stem grey, of the branches of the year green and smooth. Leaves 

 stalked, 1^ to 3 inches long, the upper ones with a pair of segments 

 much smaller than the middle one, sometimes united with it so 

 as to be hastate, sometimes separate so as to be bi-pinnatifid, or 

 almost pinnate, and occasionally there is a second pair of segments 

 below the first ; all the segments connected together by a narrow 

 strip or wing running down each side of the petiole from the 

 terminal lobe. Corymbs stalked, many-flowered, terminal but 

 apparently lateral, from the non-production of an axillary branch, 

 which resembles a continuation of the main stem. Pedicels slender, 

 curved, without bracts, longer than the calyx. Calyx 5-lobed ; 

 lobes roundish-deltoid, obtuse. Corolla \ inch across, purple, some- 

 times white ; segments each with 2 green spots at the base. Anthers 

 bright-yellow, with scarcely any filaments, nearly as long as the 

 petals, cohering together in a tube round the style, which projects 

 beyond the tube formed by the cohering anthers. Berry \ inch 

 long, red, pellucid, with a very thin skin, rather pointed. Plant 



