NIGHTSHADE FAMILY 349 



substance known as atropine, which possesses the singular 

 property of contracting the iris and thus dilating the pupil of the 

 eye, on which account it is extensively used by oculists when 

 operations are to be performed, and, it is said, by ladies to 

 enhance their beauty, whence it derives its specific name. The 

 Mandrake (Mandrdgora officinalis) was anciently thought to 

 possess miraculous properties. It was said to shriek when taken 

 from the ground, and to cause the instant death of any one who 

 heard its cries. The person who gathered it, therefore, always 

 stopped his ears with cotton, and harnessed a dog to the root, so 

 that, in his efforts to escape, he uprooted the plant, and instantly 

 fell dead. The forked root was then trimmed so as to resemble 

 the human form. Tobacco is the foliage of several species of 

 Nicotidna, a violent poison when received into the stomach, though 

 commonly employed in other ways without apparent ill effects. 

 Hyoscyamus niger, the Henbane, a stout, herbaceous plant with 

 sticky, fetid leaves, and cream-coloured flowers veined with purple, 

 is a powerful narcotic, and in skilful hands scarcely less valuable 

 than opium. Datura Stramonium, the Thorn Apple, bearing 

 large, white, trumpet-shaped flowers, and prickly capsules, is also 

 a dangerous poison, though employed with good effect in several 

 nervous and other disorders, especially asthma. Physalis Alkekengi, 

 the Winter Cherry, is remarkable for bearing a scarlet fruit 

 enclosed in the enlarged calyx, which also turns scarlet, but, after 

 exposure to autumn wet, decays, leaving the fruit hanging within 

 a network of its veins. The genus Capsicum affords Cayenne 

 pepper, which is prepared by grinding the dried fruits ; and 

 Tomatoes are the fruit of the genus Lycopersicum. 



i. Solanum. — Corolla rotate, the segments spreading or 

 reflexed ; anthers opening by pores ; fruit a 2-chambered 

 nuculane. 



*2. Lycium. — Corolla funnel-shaped, segments spreading ; 

 anthers opening lengthwise ; fruit a 2-chambered nuculane. 



3. Atropa. — Corolla bell-shaped ; fruit a 2-chambered 

 nuculane. 



*4. Datura. — Corolla long, funnel-shaped, folded angularly ; 

 fruit a 4-valved capsule. 



5. Hyoscyamus. — Corolla short, funnel-shaped with unequal 

 lobes ; capsule opening transversely. 



1. Solanum (Nightshade). — Herbs or shrubs with scattered or 

 paired leaves; polysymmetric, purple or white flowers; rotate 

 corolla with a short tube, and spreading or reflexed, valvate lobes ; 

 exserted, convergent anthers, opening by pores ; and a 2 — 4- 



