416 A FLORA OP MANILA 



1. More or less spiny or prickly herbs or vines. 

 2. Erect, stellate-pubescent, coarse herbs. 



3. Leaves with long, scattered spines 4. S. cumingii 



3. Leaves not spiny. 5. S, torvum 



B. Scandent, glabrous or nearly so, stems and petioles more or less spiny 

 or prickly. 

 3. Flowers about 1.5 cm in diameter, in few-flowered racemes; leaves 



sinuate 6. S. athroanthum 



8. Flowers about 4 cm in diameter, .in many-flowered cymes; leaves 

 simple and entire, . and pinnately lobed or pinnate on the same - 

 plant , 7. S. wendlandii 



1. S. verbascrfolium L. Talong-aso, Malatalong, Malatabaco (Tag.). 



A shrub 1 to 4 m high, all parts stellate-pubescent. Leaves ovate, ob- 

 long-ovate, or elliptic-ovate, 10 to 23 Cm long, entire, acuminate, base 

 acute or somewhat rounded, the lower surface pale and densely stellate- 

 pubescent. Cymes terminal or subterminal, dichotomously compound, pe- 

 duncled, rather densely flowered. Calyx grayish-green, about 5 mm long. 

 Corolla white, often tinged with green, the lobes spreading, about 1.3 cm 

 in diameter, pubescent outside. Fruit globose, fleshy, green or yellowish, 

 nearly 1 cm in diameter. (Fl. Filip. pi. 86.) 



In open dry lands, thickets, etc., fl. Aug.-Feb.; widely distributed in 

 the Philippines. Tropical Asia to Australia, and tropical America. 



2. S. NIGRUM L. Cunti (Tag.). 



An erect, branched, glabrous or nearly glabrous herb, 1 m high or less. 

 Stems green, somewhat 3-angled. Leaves ovate to oblong, petioled, 5 to 8 

 cm long, acuminate, base acute or acuminate, margins subentir^ or un- 

 dulately toothed or lobed. Peduncles extra-axillary,' 1 to 2.5 cm long, the 

 flowers umbellately disposed, 5 to 8 on each peduncle, nodding. Calyx 

 green, the lobes ovate-oblong. Corolla white, about 8 mm in diameter. 

 Fruit a dark-purple or black, glabrous, globose, fleshy berry about 5 mm in 

 diameter. 



In waste places, occasional, fl. all the year; widely distributed in the 

 Philippines, and probably introduced. All temperate and tropical coun- 

 tries. 



*3. S. MELONGENA L. Talong (Tag.) ; Berenjeria (Sp.) ; Egg Plant. 



A coarse, usually branched, erect annual 0.4 to 1 m high, somewhat 

 prickly or unarmed. Leaves ovate to oblong-ovate, stellate-pubescent be- 

 neath, irregularly and shallowly lobed, 10 to 25 cm long. Flowers axillary, 

 about 2.5 cm long, purplish or bluish. Fruit fleshy,' smooth, purple, up to 

 25 cm long, very variable in shape, globose to oblong or cylindric-oblong. 

 (Fl. Filip. pi. 265.) 



Cultivated for its edible friut, fl. more or less all the year. Not a native 

 of the Philippines, its origin uncertain; cultivated in most tropical and 

 temperate countries. 



4. S. cumingii Dunal. Talangbulo, Tarambulo (Tag.). 



A spreading or ascending, somewhat branched, stellate-pubescent herb 

 30 to 60 cm high. Stems, petioles, and leaves with scattered, sharp, rather 

 stout spines, 3 to 6 mm long. Leaves Oblong-ovate, acute or slightly 

 acuminate, irregularly undulate-lobed, base inequilateral, 4 to 12 cm long, 

 stellate-pubescent on both surfaces. Flowers in axillary, 1- to 5-flowered 



