42 ELEMENTS OF BOTANY. 



lateral lobes small, close to the throat of the corolla. Sta^ 

 mens 4, rising beneath the upper lip. Low spreading herbs. 



(L. amplexicaule), Hen-bit. An annual or biennial weed 

 with small purple flowers. Leaves roundish, deeply crenate, the 

 lower ones petioled, the upper sessile and clasping. 



SOLANACEJE, NIGHTSHADE FAMILY. 



Usually herbs, mostly tropical, with colorless juice, which 

 is sometimes acrid, nauseous, or poisonous, and alternate 

 leaves. Flowers regular, on bractless pedicels ; calyx 6- 

 parted ; corolla more or less 6-parted, lobed, or angled ; 

 stamens 5 ; pistil consisting of a single style and stigma and 

 a compound ovary, ripening into a (generally 2-celled) cap- 

 sule or berry. Seeds with endosperm. 



I. SOLANUM, NIGHTSHADE, POTATO. 



Calyx generally 5-parted or 6-cleft. Corolla generally 

 6-parted, cleft, or angled and wheel-shaped or nearly so (Kg. 

 124). Anthers nearly sessile, enclosing the style. Berries 

 commonly 2-celled. 



(S. Dulcamara), Bittersweet. Stems rather shrubby, long, 

 and climbing ; leaves heart-shaped, or some of them with irregular 

 lobes, or ear-like leaflets at the base ; the blue or purple flowers 

 somewhat cymose; berries showy, of many shades of orange and 

 red in the same cluster, according to their maturity. Perennial. 



II. PETUNIA. 



Divisions of the calyx oblong-spatulate. Corolla showy, 

 spreading funnel-shaped, not perfectly regular. Stamens 5, 

 somewhat unequal in length, inserted in the middle of the 

 corolla-tube and not projecting beyond it. Capsule 2-celled, 

 containing many very small seeds. Leaves alternate and entire. 



a. (P. violacba), Common Petunia. Stems rather weak and 

 reclining ; leaves covered with clammy down ; corolla varying from 

 purplish to bright red, often variegated, with a broad, inflated tube, 

 which is hardly twice as long as the calyx. Cultivated annual 

 from South America. 



