592 



THE SOLANUM FAMILY. 



1. Thorn-apple Datura. Datura Stramonium, Linn. 

 (Fig. 706.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 1288. Thorn-apple.) 



A coarse, glabrous or slightly downy 

 annual, 1 or 2 feet high, with spreading, 

 forked branches. Leaves rather large, 

 ovate, with irregular, angular or point- 

 ed teeth or lobes. Flowers solitary, on 

 short peduncles, in the forks or at the 

 ends of the branches. Calyx loosely 

 tubular, about 1^ inches long, and falls 

 off after flowering, leaving a small rim 

 under the capsule. Corolla above 3 

 inches long, bordered with 5 narrow, dis- 

 tant teeth, usually white, but occa- 

 sionally (especially in hot countries) 

 purple. Capsule nearly globular, very 

 prickly, with numerous wrinkled seeds. 



A common roadside weed, in southern 

 Europe and all over the warmer parts 

 of the globe, extending northward into 

 southern Sweden. Appears not un- 

 frequently in southern England, but can 

 scarcely be considered as naturalized. 



Fig. 706. 



Fl. summer and autumn. 



II. HENBANE. HYOSCYAMUS. 



Coarse, usually hairy annuals or biennials. Corolla obliquely cam- 

 panulate or shortly funnel-shaped, 5-lobed. Capsule enclosed in the 

 enlarged calyx, bursting when ripe round a circular raised ring imme- 

 diately below the hardened top. 



1. Common Henbane. Hyoscyamus niger, Linn. (Fig. 707.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 591.) 



A coarse, erect, branching annual, 1 to 2 feet high, more or less 

 hairy and viscid, with a nauseous smell. Leaves rather large, sessile ; 

 the upper ones clasping the stem, ovate, and irregularly pinnatifid. 

 Flowers very shortly stalked ; the lower ones in the forks of the 



