582 



BOTANY 



Fig. 570. — Scrophulariacem. 

 B, Veronica. 



Floral diagrams. A, 

 (After Eichler.) 



Verbascum ; 



poisonous, in most cases on account of the alkaloids they contain. All parts of 

 Solarium tuberosum, contain solanine ; on that account it is dangerous to eat 

 potatoes that have turned green or such as have developed shoots. Solarium 

 Dulcamara (Bitter-sweet) contains solanine in all its parts, with the exception 



of the harmless berries. Sola- 

 nine occurs, on the other 

 hand, in the black berries 

 of Solarium nigrum (Common 

 Nightshade), a weed fre- 

 quently growing in fields. 

 The unripe fruits of the To- 

 mato have been known, when 

 eaten, to produce symptoms 

 of poisoning. Atropa Bella- 

 donna, the Deadly Nightshade 

 (Fig. 567), is the most noxious 

 plant of this group. It is an 

 herbaceous plant with reddish brown campanulate flowers and very poisonous 

 black berries enveloped by the persistent calyx. Datura Stramonium, the Thorn- 

 Apple (Fig. 568), is also a narcotic, poisonous, herbaceous plant, of common occur- 

 rence on waste ground. It branches dichotomously and bears white, funnel-shaped 

 flowers producing large prickly capsules. Syoscyarnus niger, Black Henbane (Fig. 

 569), grows in situations similar to those in which the Thorn-Apple is found ; it 

 also possesses dangerous narcotic properties. The flowers, which are disposed in 

 one-sided inflorescences, have a funnel-shaped, five-lobed, yellow corolla marked 

 with violet veins ; the fruit is a pyxidium. Nicotiana Tabacum (Fig. 566) con- 

 tains toxic principles in all its parts. 



Officinal. — Atropa Belladonna yields Folia et Radix Belladonnae ; Datura 

 Stramonium, Folia Stramonii ; Syoscyarnus niger, Herba Hyoscyami ; Capsicum 

 annuum, Fructus Capsioi ; Nicotiana Tabacum, Folia Tabaci ; Solarium Dul- 

 camara, Caules Duloamarae. 



Family Scpophulariaeeae. — Corolla most frequently zygomoephic, 

 NEVER tlaited in the bud ; androecium usually REDUCED to FOUR OR 

 two stamens ; carpels median (Figs. 570-573). 



Of the plants comprising the Scrophulariaeeae, the majority are 

 herbs with simple, toothed, rarely lobed leaves, which may be opposite 

 or alternate but never unequally paired, as in the Solanaceae. Many 

 species, although provided with leaves, are root-parasites. The flowers, 

 whether solitary and axillary or in racemes, always have a lateral 

 origin. In some genera the flowers are nearly actinomorphic, with 

 pentamerous andrcecium (Fig. 570, A) ; but in most of the forms they 

 are distinctly zygomorphic, while the andrcecia are also reduced. 

 In cases where one stamen is rudimental (Scrophularia) or suppressed, 

 it is usually the posterior one. Sometimes, in consequence of more 

 extended suppression, only two stamens remain {e.g. Veronica, Fig. 570, 

 B). The fruit is a capsule, or less frequently a berry. 



Sub-Families and Representative Genera. — (1) Antirrhinoideae. Corolla 

 with descending festivation {i.e. the two posterior petals overlap the lateral, which 



