688 



PB ACTIO AL GUIDE TO GABDEN PLANTS solanum 



covered with unequal prickles purple at 

 the base. Leaves 6-7 in. long, and often 

 as much as a foot, deeply and pinnately 

 lobed, with white midribs and covered 

 with strong prickles about 1 in. long. 

 Flowers small, 6-8 in lateral racemes ; 

 calyx purplish, coroUa yellowish. Fruit 

 at first white, afterwards yellow. 

 Culture Sc. as above. 



S. aviculare (Bird Solanum; Kan- 

 garoo Apple). — This vigorous growing 

 and ornamental species, native of Austra- 

 lia and New Zealand, is better known as 

 S. laciniatum. It has smooth fleshy 

 stems 5-6 ft. high, bearing leaves pin- 

 nately cut into triangular lance-shaped 

 lobes, the end one being entire or linear, 

 the larger leaves are often 6-10 in. long. 

 Flowers violet, about 1 in. across, pro- 

 duced abundantly in short, loose, stalked 

 racemes. Fruit large, green or yellow, 

 and coral-red when quite ripe. 



Culture <£c. as above. 



S. ciliatum. — A dwarf annual 1-2 ft. 

 high, native of Porto Kico, with fleshy 

 stems thickly covered with prickles. The 

 prickly ovate oblong leaves are composed 

 of 3-7 ovate acute lobes, and the small 

 white flowers are borne solitary or in 

 pairs in short racemes. Fruits when ripe 

 bright scarlet, large, especially in the 

 variety macroca/rpum often as large as or 

 larger than a Tangerine Orange. 



Culture dc. as above. 



S. citrullifolium. — A spiny-branched 

 species 1^2 ft. high, native of Texas. 

 Leaves spiny 5-7-lobed, toothed and 

 pinnately cut. Flowers large, rosy- violet, 

 with orange anthers in the centre, and 

 succeeded by yellow fruits. 



Culture do. as above. 



S. comutum. — A beautiful Mexican 

 annual li-2 ft. high, with somewhat 

 slender green stems covered with slender 

 spines. Leaves about 4 in. long, pin- 

 nately cut into blunt sinuate lobes, the 

 midribs and main veins being prickly. 

 Flowers rather more than 1 in. across, 

 and remarkable for being yeUow in 

 colour and very handsome in appearance. 

 They are produced in succession, one or 

 two only being open at a time, and borne 

 in raceme-like clusters. As the flowers 

 wither numerous small fruits covered 

 with numberless slender spines are 

 formed and constitute a distinct and 



attractive feature of the plant. Seeds of 

 this species have been distributed under 

 the name of 8. fontanesianum, a nearly 

 allied but distinct kind. 

 Culture dc. as above. 



S. crinitum. — A prickly species 4-5 ft. 

 high, native of Cayenne. Leaves 1-2 ft. 

 long, broadly ovate, sinuate-lobed, with 

 purple veins, yellowish-green and smooth 

 above, whitish, prickly beneath. Flowers 

 deep blue, about 2 in. across, in cymose 

 lateral racemes about 4 in. long. 



Culture dc. as above. 



S. crispum (Potato Tree). — A showy 

 ChUian species 12-16 ft. high, with simple 

 undivided, entire, or shghtly waved, more 

 or less ovate leaves 3-4 in. long, loosely 

 crisped at the edges. Flowers less than 

 1 in. across, bluish-purple, fragrant, in 

 corymbs about 3 or 4 in. long. Fruit 

 white, about the size of Peas. 



Culture and Propagation. — In the 

 south of England and Ireland, this species 

 is hardy enough for mild winters. In less 

 favoured places it requires the shelter of 

 a sunny waU. Many of the branches 

 may be injured by frost, but these may 

 be cut out in spring, and new vigorous 

 shoots will take their place. There is a 

 Privet-leaved variety called ligustrinum 

 with smooth branches and rather heart- 

 shaped leaves about 1^ in. long. 



S. ferrugineum. — A vigorous bushy 

 S. American species 3-5 ft. high covered 

 with a rusty - coloured down. Stems 

 winged owing to the decurrent leaves, 

 and armed like them with strong 

 spines. Leaves decurrent, heart-shaped 

 oval, obscurely or sinuately lobed, covered 

 with a somewhat clammy down, bright 

 green beneath. Flowers lilac - purple 

 with yellow anthers, borne in large 

 curved and corymb-like clusters ; berries 

 about the size of a pea, greenish-black 

 when ripe, resembling those of the Black 

 British Nightshade — S. nigrum. 



Culture dc. as above. 



S. giganteum {S. niveum). — A vigo- 

 rous and ornamental S. African species 

 with thick, fleshy, prioldv, and woolly 

 white stems said to attain a height of 10- 

 25 ft., but only about 5-6 ft. high in culti- 

 vation. Leaves about 8 in. long, elliptic, 

 wavy, without spines, deep green above, 

 wooUy white beneath. Flowers about J 

 in. across, blue, with yellow stamens, 

 in dense woolly white terminal cymes. 



