168 PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



sides ; July to September. Both species grow in the vicinity of 

 Amherst College. 



P. alkekengi. L. Winter Cherry. A rather handsome 

 plant, cultivated for ornament, with sour and rather bitter berries ; 

 a native of the South of Europe, where the berries are cc eaten 

 as a common fruit " ; formerly esteemed aperient and de- 

 tergent. Loudon. 



Hyoscyamus. L. 5. 1. 

 H. niger. L. Henbane. A poisonous plant, sometimes 

 cultivated for its medicinal properties ; a native of Britain, and 

 the genus belongs to the eastern continent. The genus is named 

 from the Greek for hog and bean, from the notion that hogs eat 

 the poisonous fruit with safety ; a pubescent, fetid plant, not eaten 

 by quadrupeds ; naturalized in some places. Bigelow's "Medi- 

 cal Botany." 



Datura. L. 5. 1. 



Name altered from the Arabic ; only a few species, widely 

 spread over the earth. 



D. stramonium. L. Thorn Apple. Found occasionally by 

 roadsides and in waste places, and growing 2 or 3 feet high ; stem 

 large, strong, branching by forks at the top, bearing long funnel- 

 form flowers, white, or bluish-white, with a plaited border. A 

 variety called D. tatula, L., altered from the Persian name Datula, 

 for the plant, and by some considered a distinct species, has a 

 purple stem, much dotted. The seeds of the Stramonium were 

 introduced into England from Constantinople, and the plant is 

 now common in that country. A few years ago this plant was 

 considered as a specific for asthma ; it has followed the fate of 

 all specifics, though it has not lost its valuable properties, even in 

 that disease, any palliative of which is greatly to be desired. The 

 plant, like the preceding, has an offensive odor, and is poisonous ; 

 the seeds are a deadly poison. Bigelow's " Medical Botany." 



