NIGHTSHADE FAMILT. 267 



slender. Stigm^ somewhat 2-lobed or 2-lipped. Pod globular, in the com- 

 mon species prickly and 4-celled, but the 2 placentae-bearing or false par- 

 titions often mcomplete. Seeds large and dat, somewhat kidney-shaped. 

 i lowers terminal or in the forks. 



I- 1- -1- Calyx beU-thaped, cup-shaped, or short-tubular, in fruit persistent wider or 

 partly cooering the ircelled beiry ; slirubs, with entire feaiher-veined leaves. 



13. OESTRUM. Corolla tubular-funnel-form or club-shaped,, the lobes folded or 



plaited lengthwise in the bud. Stamens included. Stigma capitate. Ovary 

 with few ovules in each cell. Berry few-seeded. Flowers in dusters. 



14. LYCIUM. Parts of the flower often in fours. Corolla fnnnel-form, bell- 



shaped or tubular, the lobes imbricated in the bud. Stigma capitate. Berry 

 many-seeded, red or reddish. Flowers solitary or umbeUed, lateral. 



1. XfOLANA. (From Latin no/o, a little bell.) Cult, for ornament, from 

 coast of Peru and Chili ; the following procumbent and spreading, rather 

 fleshy-leaved, smooth except some scattered hairs on the stalks, the showy 

 blue flowers solitary on axillary or lateral peduncles, opening in sunshine, all 

 summer. 



N. atril>licif61ia, with obovate or. broadly spatulate leaves (resembling 

 those of Spinach, whence the specific name) ; sky-blue corolla 2' wide with 

 wlute and yellowish centre ; ovaries numerous in a heap, each 1-celled and 

 1-secded. (V) 



N. prostr&ta, now less common, has more petioled rather narrower leaves, 

 smaller pale violet-blue flower striped with purple, and few ovaries each of 2 -4 

 cells, (f) 



2. LYCOPEESICUM, TOMATO. (Name in Greek means ioo?/'-peacA, 

 no obvious application.) Fl. summer. 



Ii. escnl^ntum, Tomato, cult, from trop. America, includes the manifold 

 varieties and forms ; hairy, rank-scented ; leaves interruptedly pinnate, larger 

 leaflets cut or pinnatifid ; flowers yellowish, by cultivation having their parts 

 often increased m number, the esculent red berry becoming several celled. © 



3. SOLANUM, NIGHTSHADE, &c. (Derivation uncertain.) Flowers 

 mostly in corymb or racemo-like clusters, in summer. 



• § I. Mare or less prickly herbs, with acute elongated-lanceolate anthers. 



* Venj prirkhj calyx enclosing the dry berry : anthers declined, unequal, one of 

 them much longer than tlie rest, leaves sinuately once to thrice pinnatifid. (J) 



S. rostritum. Wild on plains W. of Mississippi, and becoming a weed 

 in some gardens, has yellow flowers, 1'- I J' in diameter. 



S. beterodbxam. Wild S. W. beyond the Mississippi, sometimes cult, 

 for ornament, has violet-blue flowers, and the more divided leaves resemble 

 those of Watermelon, but are very prickly 



« » Calyx mostly somewhat prickly but not enchsing the/ruit: anthers nearly equal. 



S. Carolm6nse, Hoebe-Nettle. Wild weed in sandy soil from Conn. 

 S. roughish-downy, 1° high, with ovate-oblong angled or smuate-lobed leaves, 

 yellowish prickles, and pale blue or white flowers almost 1' wide. \ 



S. aculeatlssimum. Weed introduced into waste places S., lo-2° 

 high, bristly hairy, greener and more prickly than the foregoing, with smaller 



white flowers. (T) ^ , i. ^i. i ui 



S. MelonK^na, Egg Plant, Aubergine. Cult, for the large oblong 

 or ovate violet-colored or white esculent fruit (2' -6' long) ; leaves ovate, rather 

 downy, obscurely sinuate ; corolla violet with yellow eye. (T) 

 § 2. Plants not at allprickly : anthers blunt. 

 S nigrum Black or Common Nightshade. Low weed of shady 

 grounds, much branched, nearly smooth, with ovate wavy-toothed or sinuate 

 leaves, very small white flowers, and globular black berries said to be poison- 

 ous. ® 



