XIGilTSIIADE FAMILY. 



253 



even sometimes cultivated to train over walls and fences, as its flowers 

 and fruit are showy. The berries are said to be poisonous, though this 

 is denied by some authors ; but as it is an unsettled question, and as 

 their bright red appearance, when ripe, may tempt children to eat them, 

 the plant should be regarded as a dangerous one. The twigs are used 

 in medicine to increase the secretions of the kidneys and skin. * 



3. S. TUBERo'suM, L. Underground shoots producing tubers ; leaves 

 interruptedly pseudo-pinnate, — the lobes ovate, entire ; fruit globular, 

 rather small, greenish yellow. 



TUBEROUS SoLAXUM. Commou Potato. Irish Potato. 



Fr. Pomme de terre. Germ. Die Kartoffel. Span. Batatin. 



Annual; the base of the stem pro lacing tuberous oblong or roundish pedicellate 

 rhizomas. Stem 2-3 feet high, thickisli awl succaleut or tleshy, often decumbent, some- 

 what pubescent. Leaves odd-piunately dissected, — the segments somewhat petiolulate, 

 sometimes opposite, the alternate pairs very small. Floivers in terminal nodding corymbs, 

 on a common peduncle 3-5 inches long ; pedicels articulated. Corolla bluish-white. 

 Anthers orange yellow, often slightly cohering. Berries globose, about half an inch in 

 diameter. 



Kitchen gardens and fields: cultivated. Native of .South America. Fl. June -July 

 Fr. September. 



Obs. This most important plant is more or less cultivated, for its escu- 

 lent tubers, by every owner or occupant of land. It is one of the indis- 

 pensable crops for a family. Numerous varieties of tubers — purple, 

 white and yellow — have been obtained, by long culture, or from seedling 

 plants. According to M'Culloch, Potatoes were introduced into Eng- 

 land, from Virginia, by Sir Walter Raleigh, in 1586 ; into Ireland in 

 1610, — where they have " long furnished from three-fifths to four-fifths 

 of the entire food of the people" ; and into Scotland in 1728. 



Anthers long and taper-pointed ; stem and leaves prickly. 



4. S. esculen'tum, Dunal. Stem herbaceous, nearly simple ; leaves 

 ovate, somewhat sinuate-lobed, tomentose ; flowers 5-7 or 10-parted ; 

 peduncles solitary, thickened, nodding ; calyx aculeate ; fruit ovoid or 

 oval, dark purple or white, mostly very large. 



Esculent Solanum. Egg-plant. 



Fr. Aubergine rouge. Germ. Eifriichtiger Nachtschatten. 



Whole plant clothed with a stellated tomentum. Root annual. Stem about 2 feet high, 

 hollow, aculeate, finally subligneous £eai-es 6 - 9 inches long, — the nerves and petioles 

 aculeate; petioles 1-3 inches long. Peduncles lateral, supra-axillary, thick, (sometimes 

 slender and dichotomous, or bearing 2 flowers), aculeate. Corolla purplish, pubescent ; 

 lobes ovate, spreading. Berries 3-5 or 6 inches in diameter, smooth. 



Gardens : cultivated. Native of India. J"?. July- August. i^V. September -October. 



Obs. This is cultivated for its fruit — which is quite a favorite culinary 

 vegetable. Long culture has produced several striking varieties, some 

 of which have been described as species ; the white-fruited variety is 

 nearly destitute of prickles. 



5. S. Carolinen'sa, L. Stem sufifruticosS; branching ; leaves ovate- 



