190 



POPULAR GARDEN BOTANY. 



from below the ovary ; the limb generally five-cleft, regular or 

 somewhat unequal, falling off. Stamens inserted upon the co- 

 rolla, equal to the segments in number. Leaves alternate, un- 

 divided or lobed. — -Herbaceous plants, or shrubs, abounding in 

 the tropics, and frequent in the more temperate parts of the 

 world ; many of them deadly poisons, others used as food. 



DATURA. (Thorn-apple.) 



Gen. Char. (Pentandria Monogynia.) Flowers inferior; corolla 

 funnel-shaped ; calyx falling off ; capsule two-celled, four-valved. 



The name of this noble genus is derived from the Ara- 

 bic word Tdtorah. Some of the species are hardy and 

 belong to the garden, but they are surpassed in beauty by 

 those in the greenhouse, particularly by D. cornigera, called 

 the Horned Datura, from the lobes of the corolla being 

 terminated by a long, recurved point; this plant is thus 

 described in the ' Botanical Magazine — " The plant has a 

 shrubby stem about three feet high, the young branches 

 and almost every part clothed with soft down ; leaves chiefly 

 confined to the extremity of the branches, ovate, petiolate, 

 acuminate, entire or sinuate, or angled ; peduncles axillary, 

 single-flowered, curved downwards, so that the flower is 

 drooping; calyx spathaceous, long, narrow, cylindrical, split 

 on one side for more than three-quarters of its length, with 



