350 



BOLAXACEvE. (NIGHTSHADE FAMILY.) 



2. CAPSICUM, Tourn. Red-Pepped. 



Calyx cup-shaped, 5- 7-toothcd. Corolla wheel-shaped, 5 - 7 -cleft, plaited. 

 Stamens 5-7, inserted on the throat of the corolla, exscrted ■ anthers connivent, 

 opening lengthwise. Stigma obtuse. Berry juiceless, partly 2-3-cclled, many- 

 seeded. — Herbs or shrubs, with acrid juice, solitary flowers, and red berries. 



1. C. frutescens, L. Shrubby, smooth ; stem branching; leaves oblong 

 ovate, obtuse, entire, acute or rounded at the base, pctioled, often by pairs ; 

 calyx obscurely toothed, long-pcdunclcd, erect; berry oblong, shorter than the 

 peduncle. — South Florida. — Stem 1°- 2° high. Leaves 1 ' long. Flowers ia 

 the forks of the branches. Berry 4" - 6" long. 



3. PHYSALIS, L. Ground-Cherry. 



Calyx . r )-toothcd, inflated in fruit, and enclosing the juicy berry. Corolla 

 short-bell-shapcd, plaited, 5-lobed or 5-anglcd. Stamens 5, inserted on the tube 

 of the corolla : anthers separate, opening lengthwise. Stigma obtuse. Seeds 

 flat, kidney-shaped. — Diffusely branching herbs, with alternate petioled leaves, 

 which arc often by pairs, and solitary nodding flowers in their axils, or in the 

 forks of the branches. 



* Perennial: peduncles commonly longer than the petiole: corolla 8" -10" in diam- 

 eter, spotted in the throat with brown or purple. 

 1. P. visCOSa, L. Pubescent or hairy ; root slender, elongated ; stems 

 erect, at length diffusely branched, angled ; leaves ovate, entire or angularly 

 toothed, acute or obtuse, rounded or cordate at the base ; calyx hairy, with 

 triangular-ovate lobes ; corolla pubescent, yellow, with 5 large brown spots in 

 the throat; style and filaments purple; anthers yellow; fruiting calyx oblong- 

 ovate, sharply 5-angled, concave or truncate at the base ; berry globose, viscid. 

 (P. hcterophylla, Nees. P. Pennsylvania, L.) —Dry light or sandy soil, Flor- 

 ida to Mississippi, and northward. July - Oct. — Stems ^°-2° high, sometimes 

 purple ; the pubescence often viscid, jointed, or rough. Leaves I'- 2' long, the 

 uppermost rarely acute and unequal at the base. Corolla obscurely lobed. 



2. P. lanceolata, Michx. Pubescent; leaves ovate-lanceolate or oblong, 

 obtuse, but often attenuate at the apex, entire, wavy, or coarsely and obtusely 

 toothed on the margins, acute and commonly very unequal at the base ; calyx 

 pubescent, the lobes long-acuminate from an ovate base ; corolla 5-lobed, or some- 

 what 10-lobcd or toothed, yellow in the throat ; fruiting calyx ovate or globose* 

 ovate, 3-angled. (P. Elliottii, Kunse. P. maritime, .1/. A. (Mrjtis f) — Dry sandy 

 soil, Florida to North Carolina. July - Oct. - Stem 1° high, erect or diffuse 

 ' j l'-3' long. Fruiting calyx 1'- IV long, smooth or hairy. 



S. P. atlgUStifolia, Nntt Smooth ; stem low, erect or at length diffuse, 



3-4-aniried ; leaves linear or lanceolate, obtUSC, entire, narrowed gradually at 

 the base into a winged petiole J calyx lobes short, tnaneular ovate, obtuse, 

 foiuentose on the margins ; corolla yellow, brownish purple in the throat, 



