SOLANACEAE (NIGHTSHADE FAMILY) 363 
what puckered and wrinkled, sessile or with very short ‘petioles. 
Flowers pale purple, in terminal, narrow, pointed, usually inter- 
rupted spikes, the subtending bracts long-pointed and conspicuous ; 
calyx-teeth equal, smooth or only slightly hairy and nearly as long 
as the tube of the corolla which is smooth with upper lip entire 
or sometimes slightly notched, the lower lip with three rounded 
lobes; stamens all four of the same length, erect, included. 
(Fig. 253.) 
Means of control the same as for Peppermint. 
BITTERSWEET NIGHTSHADE 
Solanum Dulcamara, L. 
[Other English names: Woody Nightshade, Blue Bindweed, Felon- 
wort, Poison Berry. 
Introduced. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: May to September. 
Seed-time: First fruits ripe in August but late clusters often cling to 
the vine until winter. 
Range: New Brunswick to Minnesota, southward to Georgia and 
Kansas. 
Habitat: Moist banks, fence rows, thickets, and around dwellings. 
The fruits of this plant are not dangerously poisonous, but are 
sufficiently so to bring on unpleasant sensations of nausea and 
cramp, particularly if the seeds are well ripened. Birds eat the 
fruits, however, without any apparent harmful effect, and void 
the seeds along fences and about house grounds and hedges, and the 
plants spring up where young children might find the berries and 
be tempted to eat them. 
Stem slender, two to ten feet in length, round and smooth, or 
slightly hairy when young. Leaves alternate, thin, dark green, 
entire, with slim, grooved petioles, the lower ones ovate to heart- 
shaped, the upper ones halberd-shaped or with two lateral ear-like 
lobes at the base which often become separate leaflets. Flowers in 
small cymose clusters, on short, slender peduncles springing from 
the side of the stem between the leaves; corolla violet-blue or 
purple, wheel-shaped, with five pointed:lobes ; stamens five, inserted 
on the throat of the corolla, the anthers uniting in a cone around 
the style; ovary two-celled; calyx-lobes short and obtuse, per- 
° 
