SOLANUM. 



of Good Hope. Cultivated by Miller in 1762, but we 

 know not whether it exifts at prefent in any garden. The 

 brunches are irregular and fpreadine, bearing copious tawny 

 prickles, (haped like tliofc of a wild briar. Leaves ftalked, 

 an inch or inch and half long, green, finuated bke 

 thofe of an oak. Flowers fmall, white, not unhke thofe 

 of S. nigrum, but their calyx is thorny. Berries black, re- 

 lembling the fruit of that fpecies. 



S. trilobatum. Three-lobed Nightfliade. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 270. Willd. n. 82. Ait. n. 38. Burm. Ind. 57. t. 22. 

 f. 2. — Stem (hrubby, armed with hooked comprefled 

 prickles. Leaves angular, fomewhat three-lobed, obtufe, 

 unarmed, fmooth. Flowers racemofe. — Native of the Eaft 

 Indies. Cultivated by Miller in 1759. A ftove-plant, 

 flowering in Auguft. More flender than the laft, with 

 more diffant, and lefs finuated leaves, on longerjlalis. But 

 the much larger purple Jlozvers, in double-branched lateral 

 'lujiers, efTentially diilinguifh the prefent plant, whofe 

 branches and leaves, the prickles excepted, might be thought 

 to belong to fome fpecies of Boerhavia. Plukenet's t. 316. 

 f. 5, is rather more like S. Milleri, but cannot be precifely 

 determined, for want of the inflorefcence. 



Sedtion 3. Branches ending in thorns. One fpecies. 



S. lycioides. Box -thorn Night(hade. Linn. Mant. 46. 

 Willd. n. 83. Ait. n. 39. Jacq. Coll. v. i. 96. Ic. 

 Rar. t. 46. — Stem fhrubby; branches with terminal thorns. 

 Leaves elHptical. Flowers fohtary. — Suppofed to be a 

 native of Peru. A ftove-plant in England, flowering in 

 May and June. Its habit is correftly compared by Lin- 

 naeus to that of a Lycium. The Jlem is woody, with many 

 long, trailing, flender, angular, fmooth, leafy branches, 

 finally becoming fpinous at the extremity. Leaves (talked, 

 about an inch long, fmooth, entire. Flowers elegant, 

 folitary, on lateral flender ftalks, an inch in length. 

 Segments of the calyx narrow, fmooth. Corolla light- 

 blue. Anthers fliort, orange. Berry fcarlet, the fize of a 

 currant. 



Notwithftanding our having here added twelve fpecies to 

 Willdenow's lift, we are confcious that many ftill remain un- 

 fettled, of which we have only imperfeft or uncertain fpeci- 

 mens. The tropical regions of Africa probably poflefs 

 feveral more. Befides thofe we have noticed, Mr. Brown 

 defines fourteen new fpecies in his Prodromus of the Flora 

 of New Holland, under the following names. S. tetran- 

 drum, viride, and liflorum, without prickles. 5. difcolor, 

 violaceum, furfuraceum, parvifolium, elUpticum, armatum, Hyf- 

 trix, cinereum, pungetium, campanulatum, and echinatum, with 

 prickles on the ftem, ftalks, leaves or calyx. Among thefe 

 the Hyfirix is moft remarkable for having prickles on the 

 corolla itfelf. 



SoLANUM, in Gardening, contains plants of the herba- 

 ceous, ftirubby, and tuberous-rooted, efculent kinds, of 

 which the fpecies cultivated are : the love-apple, or tomato 

 (S. lycoperficum) ; the Ethiopian nightlhade (S. xthio- 

 picum) ; the large-fruited nightlhade, or egg-plant (S.me- 

 longena) ; the woody nightfliade, or bitter-fweet (S. dulca- 

 mara) ; the mullein-leaved nightfliade (S. verbafcifolium) ; 

 the flirubby nightfliade, or winter cherry (S. pfeudo- 

 capficum) ; the oak-leaved nightfliade (S. quercifolium) ; 

 the dug-fruited nightfliade (S. mammofum) ; the Indian 

 nightfliade (S. indicum) j the Carolina nightfliade (S. caro- 

 linenfe) ; the black-fpined nightfliade (S. fodomeum) ; the 

 Paleftine nightfliade (S. fanftum) ; and the tuberous-rooted 

 nightfliade, or common potatoe (S. tuberofum). 



In the firft fort the fruit is fmooth, but varies in form, 

 fize, and colour, from which Miller has formed two varie- 

 ties; the firft of which is commonly cultivated in the 



fouth of Europe to put into foups and fauces, to which it 

 imparts an agreeable acid flavour : the fruit is very large, 

 comprefled both at top and bottom, and deeply furrowed 

 all over the fides, and of a red-yellow or yellowifti colour. 

 The latter is round, about the fize of a large cherry, either 

 yellow or red. It is a native of South America, flowering 

 from July to September. 



And in the third fort there are varieties with oblong 

 violet-coloured fruit, with an oblong, white, large fruit, 

 with a globular violet-coloured fruit, and with a globular 

 white or variegated fruit. Some make other varieties, as 

 red-fruited, yellow-fruited, prickly-fruited, &c. 



Alfo in the fourth fort there are varieties with flelh- 

 coloured, with white flowers, and with variegated leaves. 

 Some have likewife gold ftriped-leaved, African thick- 

 leaved, &c. 



The fixth fort has alfo varieties with red and with yel- 

 lowifti fruit. 



In the laft fort, which is probably a native of Peru, or 

 fome part of that traft of continent, the principal varieties 

 may be diftinguiflied into two kinds, as the red-rooted and 

 white-rooted forts ; the fub-varieties of which are extremely 

 numerous ; but for garden purpofes, the following are the 

 moft ufeful kinds that are generally employed. 



The early dwarf-red, the round-red, the oblong-red, the 

 pale-red, the blood-red, the Irifli red or painted lord, old 

 winter-red, rough-red, and fmooth-red. 



Early forcing potatoe, the early dwarf-white, browa 

 early, Cumberland early, early Scot, golden dun, early 

 champion, white bloflbm. Manly white, kidney-white and 

 red, red-nofed, true white, flat white, and fuperfine white 

 early. 



Many other kinds or varieties are made ufe of in gardens 

 for raifing the late as well as the early crops of this moft ufe- 

 ful root. In Lancaftiire, for the very early crops, they have 

 principally recourfe to the early kings, and foxes feedlings. 



They tjfo cultivate a fmall everlafting potatoe, as it is 

 called, in the fame fituations, covering the beds with draw 

 or fome other material in the winter feafon, when neceftary. 

 A ready fupply of the root may, it is faid, be provided in 

 this way by this fort of potatoe. 



In the firft volume of the Tranfaftions of the Horticul- 

 tural Society of London, fir Jofeph Banks has given the 

 following curious and interefting account of the introduftion 

 of this fpecies of folanum, or the common potatoe, into this 

 country and Europe. The notes from which this account 

 has been principally taken, have, it is faid, been fome o£ 

 them coUefted from authorities of difficult accefs by the 

 learned and very intelligent Mr. Dryander. 



It is ftated, that the potatoe now in ufe was brought to 

 England by the colonilts fent out by fir Walter Raleigh, 

 under the authority of his patent, granted by queen Eliza- 

 beth " for difcovering and planting new countries, not pof- 

 fefled by Chriftians," which pafled the great feal in 1584. 

 Some of fir Walter's fliips failed in the fame year, others, 

 on board of one of which was Thomas Herriot, afterwards 

 known as a mathematician, in 1585 ; the whole of them, 

 however, returned, and probably brought with them the 

 potatoe, on the 27th of July, 1586. 



The faid Thomas Herriot, who was probably fent out, 

 as it is faid, to examine the country, and report to thofe 

 who employed him the nature and produce of the foil, 

 wrote an account of them, which is printed in the firft 

 volume of De Bry's Collection of Voyages. In this ac- 

 count, under the article of roots, in p. 17, he dafcribes a 

 plant which is called Opanawk. " Thefe roots are," he 

 fays, " round, fome as large as a walnut, others much 



larger ; 



