THE NIGHTSHADE FAMILY 
57 
Tobacco-plant — which was introduced into Europe about the same time as the Potato, and whose 
dried leaves provide us with tobacco. Many species are valuable in medicine: Atropa Belladonna 
produces atropine, a substance which has the power of dilating the pupil of the eye and contracting 
the iris, and is used by oculists ; Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) is a powerful narcotic ; and the 
dried leaves of the Thorn Apple (Datura Stramonium), made into cigarettes and inhaled, frequently 
relieve asthma. 
Fruit a juicy berry. 
I. Nightshade (SolAnum). Flowers small; corolla star-like (rotate) with a short tube ; anthers 
uniting into an erect cone round the style, each opening at the top by pores ; berry 
roundish. 
II. Deadly Nightshade (At'ropa). Flowers large ; corolla bell-shaped with a long tube ; 
anthers opening lengthwise ; berry roundish. 
III. * Tea- plant (Lycium). Flowers small ; corolla funnel-shaped with a long tube and spread- 
ing lobes ; anthers opening lengthwise ; berry narrowly oval, pointed. 
Fruit a dry capsule. 
IV. '"'Thorn Apple (Datura). Flowers very large ; corolla funnel-shaped with a long angular 
tube ; anthers opening lengthwise ; capsule generally prickly, imperfectly 4-celled, 
opening from the top by 4 valves. 
V. Henbane (Hyoscyamus). Flowers large ; corolla funnel-shaped with a long tube ; anthers 
opening lengthwise ; capsule 2-celled, splitting crosswise and opening by the falling 
back of the short lid-like upper part. 
I. NIGHTSHADE. (SOLANUM. Linn.) — Flowers white or purple, rarely yellow, in loose, 
forked clusters, the central flower opening first (cymes). Calyx of 5, rarely 10 sepals, united at 
the base, free from and inserted below the seedcase (inferior); corolla of 5, rarely 10 petals, star- 
like (rotate), united into a short tube and spreading into a limb with the same number of lobes, 
which are often reflexed, inserted below the seedcase (hypogynous) ; stamens 5, rarely more, with 
the filaments very short, and the anthers united into a cone round the style, each anther opening 
by 2 pores at the top, inserted in the throat of and protruding beyond the corolla-tube (epi- 
petalous) ; carpels 2, with a single style and stigma ; fruit a 2- or imperfectly 4-celled fleshy berry, 
many-seeded, decaying to free the seeds (indehiscent). Herbs or shrubs, or, in exotic species, low 
trees, with alternate leaves, those near the flowers in pairs, consisting of one large and one smaller 
leaf. 
(1) Woody Nightshade. (Solanum Dulcamara.) — Flowers purple, in forked clusters; fruit 
oval, red ; stems climbing ; upper leaves lobed ; root creeping. 
(2) Black Nightshade. (SolAnum nigrum.)— Flowers white, almost in umbels; fruit round, 
usually black ; stems erect ; leaves undivided ; root not creeping. 
1 . Woody Nightshade, Bitter-sweet. (Sol&num Dulcamara. Linn.)— As just 
described. The flowers are about \ inch across, in loose, forked, drooping clusters (cymes) ; the 
5 petals are strongly reflexed, purple, each having 2 green spots at the base ; the 5 anthers are 
bright yellow, united into a cone round the style ; the berries are oval, fleshy, and of a rosy-scarlet ; 
the stems are climbing or trailing, 3-6 feet or more long, supporting and raising themselves 
on the surrounding plants, shrubby at the base ; the leaves are egg-shaped, pointed, stalked, usually 
broadly heart-shaped (cordate) at the base, and entire, the upper ones with a small lobe on each 
side at the base ; and the root is creeping. \Plate 2 1 . 
