76 SOLANUMS. 



ing branches, with their round, tliickisli leaA'cs, are ador- 

 ned with large blossoms of striking bcaut\-. The\- are an 

 ornament to the Mediterranean llora. The tuft of straggling 

 stamens, with their long, violet filaments set in the 

 snow-white petals, lends to the whole a delicate, one might 

 almost say poetic, appearance. In the spring indeed only 

 tiowerlcss plants are to be seen at La Mortola. In many 

 places on the Riviera, at Grasse for instance, the Caper 

 is grown in C|uantities. It is the flower-buds, and not the 

 fruits, which are eaten. These buds are=gathered in summer 

 and preserved in \inegar. ,Se\eral thousand kilos of Cap- 

 ers are exported ^-earh- from Provence. 



Many a visitor to La Mortola Gardens will pause to 

 admire a kind of Nightshade, Solauum Mcloiigeua, which 

 is called "Aubergine" in France. It bears fruits the size and 

 shape of a hen's egg; lience the name of "Egg-plant" whicli 

 is applied to se\-eral of the Solanums. Seeing these fruits 

 in La Mortola Gardens reminds us that we have often 

 noticed them before in Italian markets. The purple-fruited 

 Aubergine is the most commonh grown in Itah': but 

 yellow and white varieties are also cultivated. These 

 fruits, when cooked, are often used to garnish roast joints 

 on Italian tables, and also served up as vegetables. In 

 the north our use of the Solanaceous fruits is limited to 

 Tomatoes and Chillies. Nearh- all the other fruits of 

 this family are poisonous, and cannot be used as food. 

 Fortunateh' we have no experience of the "Cannibals' 

 Tomato" which ripens on a shrubby Nightshade called 

 Solamnii auihropophagoriim . According to travellers 

 the Fiji Islanders prepare from this fruit a sauce which 



