SOLANACEffi. 



593 



branches ; the upper ones sessile, in one- 

 sided leafy spikes, rolled back at the 

 top before flowering. Calyx short when 

 in flower, but persists round the fruit, 

 and then an inch long, strongly veined, 

 with 5 stiff, broad, almost prickly lobes. 

 Corolla above an inch long, pale dingy- 

 yellow, with purplish veins. Capsule 

 globular, with numerous small seeds. 



In waste, stony places, on roadsides, 

 etc., in central and southern Europe and 

 western Asia, and having been formerly 

 much cultivated for its medicinal proper- 

 ties has spread far into northern Europe. 

 In Britain, chiefly on rubbish and waste 

 places, about villages and old castles, in 

 England, southern Scotland, and Ire- 

 land. Fl. summer. 



Fig. 707. 



III. SOLANUKI. SOLANUM. 



Herbs, shrubs, or, in exotic species, low trees ; the flowers usually 

 in cymes, on short, lateral or terminal peduncles. Calyx of 5 or rarely 

 more divisions. Corolla rotate, 5-lobed, with scarcely any tube. Anthers 

 almost sessile, closed or joined together in an erect cone round the 

 style in the centre of the flower, each anther opening in a small pore at 

 the top. Fruit a berry, with several seeds. 



A very large genus, widely spread over the globe, but chiefly in tro- 

 pical regions, and more especially in South America. 



Climber, shrubby at the base. Leaves slightly cordate 



or 3-lobed 1. Bittersweet S. 



Erect annual or biennial. Leaves ovate, angularly toothed 2. Black S. 



The cultivated species include the Potato (S. tuberosum), the Tomato 

 or Love-apple (S. Lycopersicum), the Egg-plant or Bring all (S. Me- 

 longena), and several ornamental ones. 



1. Bittersweet Solanum. Solatium Dulcamara, Linn. 

 (Fig. 708.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 565. Bittersweet or NigJitshade.) 

 Stem shrubby at the base, with climbing or straggling branches, 



VOL. II. H 



