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THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



Chinese Brinjal, or White China Egg-plant. — A very distinct 

 variety, with long slender white fruit, which are almost always 

 curved. A late kind. 



There are a great many other varieties of Egg-plant, which are 

 more or less closely allied to those just described. The most note- 

 worthy of these we shall briefly mention, as follows : — 



Catalonian Egg-plant. — A late, spiny kind, resembling the 

 Round Purple variety. 



Murcian Egg-plant — Fruit purple, round, marked with a few 

 ribs ; stem and leaves spiny ; the leaves are more lobed and the 

 veins are more deeply coloured than those of the Round Purple 

 variety. 



Antilles Giant Egg-plant.— This is a strong-growing late kind, 

 without spines, and bearing fruit resembling that of the Round 

 Purple variety. 



Green Egg-plant. — This does not appear to be a distinct and 

 fixed variety, as, amongst the White Egg-plants, fruit are frequently 

 met with which are more or less greenish or variegated with green. 



Thibet Egg-plant — A late variety, with elongated fruit of a 

 greenish white colour. It was introduced about thirty years ago, 

 and seems to have gone almost out of cultivation. 



WHITE EGG-PLANT 



Solanum ovigermn, Dun. 



French, Aubergine blanche. German, Weisse Eierpflanze. 



A rather low-growing, branching plant. Stem and leaf-stalks 

 green, or very faintly tinged with purple, and bearing a few white 



spines ; leaves wavy at the edges ; 

 flowers lilac ; fruit white, exactly 

 resembling a hen's egg, but turn- 

 ing yellow when ripe. Like the 

 Madras Egg-plant, its chief use 

 is for ornament. The fruit is 

 (probably erroneously) considered 

 by some to be unwholesome. 

 There is a form of it which has 

 larger fruit, and another of dwarfer 

 growth and with much smaller 

 fruit, which is known as the Dwarf 

 White Egg-plant. 



All the forms are cultivated 

 Wbi'te Egg-plant (i natural size). the same way as the common 



kinds. The fruit is not eaten, 

 but may be used as ornaments in baskets of mixed fruits at 

 dessert, etc. 



