NIGHTSHADE FAMILY. 367 



places about interior towns and along the flood-beds of interior streams: Alamo 

 (reek; Napa Valley; south to the Little Sur Eiver, thence east to the Arroyo 

 Los Gatos near Coalings and throughout the San Joaquin. Herbage more 

 or less poisonous to cattle. 



2. DATURA L. Thorn-Apple. 



Coarse rank-smelling herbs. Leaves large, ovate, mostly sinuate-dentate, 

 petioled. Flowers large, solitary on short peduncles in the forks of the 

 branching stem. Calyx tubular, 5-toothed, in our species at length cutting 

 through near the base, the lower part persisting as a collar or rim beneath 

 the capsule. Corolla funnelform with ample limb, convolute-plicate in the 

 bud. Stamens included; filaments long. Stigma bilamellate. Capsule prickly 

 or spiny. 4-valved from the top or the valves indefinite. The placentae project 

 from the axis into the middle of the cells and connect with the walls by a 

 partition imperfect at the top and thus form a falsely 4-celled ovary and 

 capsule. (The Hindoo name, dhatura.) 



Calyx not prismatic, tubular; corolla large (6 to 8 in. long); capsule nodding on the short 

 recurved pedicel, indefinitely valved or bursting irregularly, the subtending persistent 



base of the calyx rotate 1. D. metcloides. 



Calyx prismatic; corolla small (4 in. long or less); capsule erect, definitely 4-valved, the 

 ' subtending persistent base of the calyx reflexed. 



Corolla purple ; prickles subequal 2. D. tatula. 



Corolla white: prickles very unequal 3. D. stramonium. 



1. D. meteloides DC. Tolguacha. Erect branching plant, 2 or 3 ft. 

 high; calyx with 5 lanceolate teeth; corolla white, tinged with violet, its 

 limb 3 to 6 in. wide, provided with 5 slender teeth y 2 to % in. long; anthers 

 white, 6 lines long; capsule globose. 1 in. long, densely prickly, indefinitely 

 valved or bursting irregularly, the calyx-rim rotate about base of the capsule ; 

 prickles short (often only 2 lines long), dilated and pubescent at base; seeds 

 2 lines long, light-colored, flat, smoothish, with a cord-like margin. 



Sandy valley lands; Sacramento Valley to Southern California, thence east- 

 ward. The active poison was used by some of the native tribes, the whole 

 plant being ground up and mixed with water to form a drink. 



2. D. tatula L. Purple Thorx-Apple. Plants 1 to 2 ft. high; stems 

 purplish; corolla purplish. 3 to 4 in. long, the limb 2 in. wide or less; anthers 

 purple, 2 lines long ; capsule ovoid, with many very stout subequal prickles ; 

 calyx-rim reflexed from base of capsule; seeds thickish, brown, finely pitted 

 ami rugose, or with umbilicate markings. 



Naturalized from Tropical America; not common but widely distributed: 

 Eussian Eiver, Monterey, San Bernardino. More or less poisonous. 



3. D. stramonium L. Stramonium. Similar to the preceding, but the 

 stems greenish and the flowers white; capsule with few prickles, the lower 

 much shorter than the very stout upper ones which are % in. long. 



Introduced and widely distributed but not common. Poisonous. 



3. SOLANUM L. Nightshade. 



Herbs oi sometimes snffrutescent. Flowers in umbels on short lateral or 

 terminal peduncles. Calyx 5-parted. Corolla rotate, 5-lobed, wdth scarcely 

 any tube. Anthers almost sessile, lightly connate into a cylinder surrounding 

 the style, opening by a small pore at the apex or longitudinally dehiscent. 

 Fruit a berry with several seeds. (Latin name of the Nightshade, from 

 solamen, quieting.) 



