"WEEDS OP THE POTATO FAMILY. 



125 



at base, closed at tip and loosely surrounding the green or yellow berry. 

 Seeds numerous, kidney-shaped, flattened, with a thin edge, finely pitted. 

 (Fig. 88.) 



Very common in lowland sandy fields and waste places. June- 

 Oct. This is the most abundant of the 8 species of ground cherries 

 listed from the State. All can be recognized by the much inflated 

 bladdery calyx which encloses the small tomato-like fruit. They 



are distinguished one from another by 

 ' the smoothness or hairiness and shape 

 of the leaves,, by the color and size of 

 the flowers and by the shape of the 

 calyx in fruit. The one above de- 

 scribed is the only common annual 

 form. Among the perennial ones with 

 underground- rootstocks the clammy 

 ground-cherry,; (P. heterophylla 

 Nees.), having large heart-shaped 

 leaves, 2 inches or more long, densely 

 clothed with short more or less sticky 

 hairs; the Virginia ground-cherry 

 (P. virginiana Mill.), with ovate, 

 sparsely hairy leaves and fruiting 

 calyx cone-shaped, 5-angled and deeply sunken at the base, and the 

 prairie ground-cherry (P. lanceolata Michx. ) , leaves narrow, lance- 

 olate or spoon-shaped, fruiting calyx rounded, egg-shaped, scarcely 

 angled and little sunken at the base, are the common forms. Rem- 

 edies: thorough cultivation; mowing or cutting the perennial 

 forms two or three times each season. 



01. Solanum carolinense L. Horse Nettle. Bull Nettle. Sand Brier. 

 Tread-soft. (P. N. 1.) 

 Erect, branched, 1-2 feet high, the branches, leaf-stalks and mid-ribs 

 of the leaves armed with numerous short, stout, awl-shaped yellow 

 prickles ; leaves oblong or ovate, 2-6 inches long, cut-lobed or toothed, 

 covered with numerous minute star-shaped hairs. Flowers in loose clus- 

 ters ; calyx lobes tapering ; corolla wheel-shaped, purplish or whi'te. Berry 

 naked, orange-yellow, about J inch broad, closely resembling that of the 

 potato. Seeds numerous, straw-color, flat, rounded or ovate, 1/10 inch 

 long. (Figs. 10, d; 11, e, 89.) 



A very common and pernicious weed growing in both culti- 

 vated ground and pasture land, especially in dry and sandy soils. 

 May-Sept. It is a southern species which has spread widely both 

 by strong rdotstocks and numerous seeds. In many places in .the 

 southern two-thirds of Indiana it has, in recent years, become one 



Fig. 88. Fruit enclosed in calyx. (After 

 Brittou and Brown.) 



