lit ated 
The “BER Sea Sr HERBAL. 
2. Love-Apple. 
Solanum foliis pinnatis frutiu magno. 
The root is compofed of many thick fibres. 
The ftalk is thick, flefhy, and of a pale green, 
but of a weak fubftance; fo that it does not 
fland perfeétly upright. i 
The leaves are very large, and of a pale green: 
they are of the pinnated form; each compofed 
of three or four pairs of pinne, with an odd fee- 
ment at the end: thefe feparate parts are deeply 
and rudely indented, and fometimes divided again 
in the pinnated manner. 
The flowers are large and yellow: the fruit is 
very large, of the bignefs of a moderate apple, 
ribbed on the furface, and of a fine red. It is full 
of a foft pulpy fubftance; among which lie nu- 
merous feeds. 
It is a native of the warmer parts of Ame- 
rica, but thrives well in our gardens. Wee raife 
it principally for beauty; but in many other parts 
of Europe they eat the fruit in foops; and fome- 
times raw, with oil, pepper, and vinegar. 
It is innocent ; but there is little nourithment 
in it, 
3. Potatoe. 
Solanum tuberofa radice. 
The root is compofed of numerous, large, ir- 
regular pieces, and of certain ftrings or fibres con- 
necting them together. 
The ftalk is round, firm, upright, and a yard 
high. 
The leaves are large, long, and pinnated : each 
is compofed of four or five pairs of irregular pin- 
na, with an odd one at the end; and they are 
of a dufky green colour. 
The flowers are large, and of a deep purple, 
paler on the outfide, and dufkier within, with 
yellow buttons in the centre: thefe ftand in cluf- 
ters at the ends of the branches; and have a fin- 
gular afpect, being five-cornered, rather than di- 
vided as the others. ; 
_ The fruit is large, round, and, when ripe, 
black. 
It is a native of America, and flowers in Au- 
guft. 
The roots are very quick in multiplying. 
C.Bauhine calls it Solanum tuberofum efeulen- 
tum. Others, Battata. 
This is another inftance, that many plants of 
the folanum kind are not poifonous, for it is truly 
and diftinétly one of them. 
4. Mad Apple. 
Solanum pomiferum fruétu oblongo. 
The root is compofed of numerous, long, thick, 
and fpreading fibres. 
The ftalk is round, upright, firm, of a pale 
green, or of a purplifh colour, and covered with 
a light, loofe, woolly matter: it is not much 
branched 5 and it is a foot and half high. 
The leaves are very large: they have fhort 
footftalks ; and thofe are often redith, as are alfo 
the veins: the leaves themfelves are of a deep 
‘ green; but they have the fame kind of whitith, 
woolly matter upon them as the ftalks, 
Sey 
The flowers ftand fingly, or fometimes two or 
three together, on long footftalks ; and they are 
large, and either white, or of a beautiful purple. 
Their cups are covered with fharp, but weak 
prickles, of a purple colour. 
The fruit is very large: 
its bignefs that of a hen’s 
greenifh at firft, but white like an egg when ripe; ~ 
or fometimes purplifh, varying as the flower 3 it 
is full of a foft, juicy matter within; and the fkin 
is extremely tender and thin, 
its fhape is oval, and 
€gg, or larger: it is 
This is another of the innocent plants of the 
nightfoade kind. Its name would make one think 
otherwife; but that has heen given through igno- 
rance. 
Some early blunderers in the feience fuppofed 
this to be the male mandrake of Theophraftus, 
and therefore declared it to be poifonous; 
down the fymptoms of convulfions and deliriums 
as attending the taking it inwardly. The people 
in the Eaft, not fo deeply learned in Greek, eat 
it, and they have fet the example to other nations, 
It is now a common ingredient in foops in many 
places. 
It is a native of Afia, Affica, and South Ame- 
rica. Scarce any warm climate is without it. 
C. Bauhine calls it Solanum pomiferum frugu 
oblongo. Others, »Meolongena, and Melanzana. 
Our Englith people, who follow the old bota- 
nifts, Mad apples, and Raging apples. Others 
the Ege-plant. ; 
Tournefort has led the way to defcribing the 
feveral varieties of this plant as difting@ fpecies ; 
but they are no way different, except in the co- 
lour of the flower and fruit: no more than a red 
bean from a white one. 
fetting 
§- Pear-fruited Nightthade. 
Solanum Lpinofum frufu Dyriformi. 
The root is compofed of many thick, 
and fpreading fibres. tte 
The ftalks are numerous, weak, ‘branched, 
and two feet and a half high: they are covered 
with a loofe, whitifh, woolly ‘matter ; and are 
befet at fmall diftances with tharp prickles, 
The leaves are large, and covered with the 
fame white downy matter: they are alfo befer 
with fharp prickles: they are broad, fhort, 
pointed at the ends, and irregularly indented. 
The flower is fmall; but the fruit is very large: 
it is of the bignefs of a pear, and of a gold yel- 
low: its fhape alfo is like that of a pear; but it 
grows to the ftalk at the large end. 
It is common in the American iflands, and the 
fruit ripens in Augutt. 
Plukenet calls it Solanum Barbadenfe fpinofum 
annuum fruiu aureo rotundiore pyri parvi inverft 
forma & magnitudine. > 
long, 
6. Blue-flowered Thorny Nishtthade. 
Solanum fpinofum flore ceruleo, 
This is a very fingular and elegant plant. 
The root is compofed of numerous,. fpreading 
fibres. 
The ftalks are round, firm, upright, branched, 
and a yard high : they are of a pale colour, and 
thick fet with fharp, dufky thorns. 
The 
