NIGHTSHADE FAMILY. 



251 



Plant of a g-reyisli aspf'Ct, viscid-pubescent and somewhat fetid. Root annual. Stem 2- 

 i feet long, "branching, often straggling or procumbent unless supported. Ilowers in 

 naked lateral racemose clusters ; comm.on peduncle 1-2 inches long, dichotomously divid- 

 ed, the sub-divisions articulated to the pedicels of the flowers. Calyx-segments 5-10, 

 linear-lanceolate, long. Corolla yellow, pubescent, the lobes 5-10, lanceolate, spreading. 

 Anthers cohering, acuminate, with the points recurved. Berries large (1-3 or 4 inches or 

 more in diameter), globose or flatly depressed and orbicular, often remarkably torose or 

 distorted by large swelling ridges, red or reddish orange-color when mature. 



Gardens and lots: cultivated. Native of Spanish America. jPI. June - August. Fr. 

 August - September. 



Obs. This is cultivated for its succulent acid fruit — which, as a sauce, 

 is considered very healthful, — and has, of late years, become a favorite 

 and almost universal dish, in its season. Numerous varieties are found in 

 cultivation ; the fruit varying in color, being yellow, deep-red and light- 

 crimson ; some have the surface smooth, and in others it is deeply fur- 

 rowed. The larger ben'ies are usually in an abnornal - condition, con- 

 taining numerous cells, and sometimes appearing as if produced by the 

 union of several ovaries. The small round kind, known as " Cherry To- 

 mato," is probably L. cerasiforme, Dunal ; this, also, varies in color, 

 and ha3 probably hybridized with the ordinarily cultivated species, to 

 produce the intermediate forms that are often met with. 



2. SOLA'NUM, L. Nightshade and Potato. 



[A name of obscure and uncertain meaning.] 



Calyx 5-10-parted, persistent. Corolla rotate or subcampanulate ; 

 tube short ; limb plicate, mostly 5-lobed. Stamens mostly 5, inserted 

 on the throat of the corolla, exserted ; anthers connivent, opening at 

 apex by 2 pores. Berry 2- (rarely 3-4-) celled. Leaves various ; 

 -flowers in cymose clusters — on mostly lateral and extra-axillary pedun- 

 cles, 



^ Anthers blunt ; 2)lants not prickly. 



1. S. nigrum, L. Stem, herbaceous, angular, branched, scabrous on 

 the angles ; leaves ovate, 'obscurely repand-dentate ; flowers subumbel- 

 late ; fruit globose, black. 



Black Solanum. Nightshade, 



Fr. Morelle noire. Germ. Der schwarze Nachtschatten. Span. Yer- 

 ba mora. 



Root annual. Stem 1-2 feet high, much branched, angular or slightly winged. Leaves 

 2-3 inches long ; petioles about an inch long. Umbels lateral above the axils, few-flowered, 

 nodding. Corolla white. 



Waste. places, about gardens and dwellings. Native of Europe. T^L July. JV. Sept. 



Obs. A homely, worthless, and even deleterious weed, — which ought to 

 be carefdly expelled from the vicinity of all dwellings. 



2. S. Dulcama'ra, L. Somewhat shrubby and climbing ; leaves cor- 

 date-OTate, the upper ones often hastate or with 2 ear-like lobes at base ; 

 flowers in lateral cymes ; fruit oval, red. 



