468 SOLANACE^ 



Note which ' eyes ' have produced the strongest shoots, and the number of 

 shoots from each ' eye.' 



Ex. 241. — Carefully dig up a complete potato plant in June including the 

 old tuber. Examine the roots and rhizomes bearing the young tubers, and 

 note their position upon the plant. If very small tubers are present, look 

 with a lens for the scale leaves near their ' eyes. ' 



Ex. 242. — Scrape away the earth from a young potato plant, and cut off all 

 the tubers which are b^inning to form, taking care not to injure the roots. 

 Cover up the latter, and repeat the process at a later date. Watch the fiiture 

 development, and note the formation and structure of the tubers in the axils 

 of the foliage-leaves. 



Ex. 243. — Uncover an elongated underground rhizome ot a potato plant 

 which has just begim to form a small tuber at its tip, and allow it to grow 

 above ground or on the surface of the soil where light can get at it. Observe 

 the changes in its appearance from day to day for a fortnight. 



Ex. 244. — Examine and make sections of the flower and fruit of a potato 

 plant, and compare them with those of the tomato and woody nightshade. 



3. Belonging to the genus Solatium are two wild indigenous 

 plants, viz., Bitter-Sweet and Black Nightshade, both of which 

 are poisonous and sometimes erroneously called Deadly Night- 

 shade. 



4. Bitter-Sweet {Solatium Dulcaitiara L.) is a shrubby peren- 

 nial common in woods and hedges. The upper leaves are 

 hastate, the lower ones cordate-ovate. The purple flowers re- 

 semble those of the potato but are smaller; the fruit is a red, 

 ovoid berry. 



5. Black Nightshade (S. tiigrum L.), is a smaller plant, herba- 

 ceous and annual, with ovate leaves ; most frequent in waste 

 places. Its flowers are white, and the fruit a round, black berry. 



Other plants occasionally met with belonging to different 

 genera of the Solanaceae are Deadly Nightshade and Henbane. 



6. Deadly Nightshade (Atropa Belladotitia L.) is an herbaceous 

 perennial, about three feet high, met with about ruins and chalky 

 waste places, but of comparatively rare occurrence. It possesses 

 large broad, ovate leaves, and purple, drooping, bell-shaped 

 flowers. The berries are a deep violet colour, and of sweetish 

 taste. The whole plant contains hyoscyamine and atropine, 



