OF ORNAMENTAL ANNUALS. 251 
GENUS IV. 
NICANDRA, Adan. THE ALKEKENGI, OR KITE-FLOWER. 
Lin. Sysl. PENTANDRIA MONOGNYIA. 
Generic Characteu. — Calyx 5-parted, inflated. Segments sagittate. Corolla campanulate. Stamens incurved. Berry fleshy, 3 — d-celled, 
covered by the calyx. — (G. Don.) 
NICANDRA PHYSALOIDES, GcBrtn. THE ALKEKENGI, OR KITE-FLOWER. 
Specific Character. — Plant glabrous, much branched. Leaves 
twin. Flowers extra-axillary, solitary, drooping. 
Synonymes. — Atropa physaloides, Lin. ; Physalis peruviana. Mill. ; 
P. datursefolia, Lam. ; Calydermos erosos, Ruiz ei Pavon. 
Engravings. — Bot. Mag. t. 245B : and ourjig. 3, in Plate 46. 
Description, &c. — A very strong, vigorous plant, growing from four feet to six feet high in favourable 
situations, and sending out numerous branches. The flowers are large and showy, and the fruit resembles that 
of the winter cherry, being enclosed in a large inflated capsule. The stem is purple, and the branches are reddish, 
the colour becoming brighter in the petioles or footstalks of the leaves, and often spreading down the mid-ribs. 
The plant is a native of Peru, from which country it was first sent to France. It was introduced into England 
in 1759, and it has ever since been a favourite in large gardens and shrubberies, though it should never be grown 
except where there is abundance of room. The name of Nicandra was given to this genus by Adanson in honour 
of the memory of Nicander, a Greek physician, who lived about a hundred and fifty years before Christ ; physa- 
loides alludes to the great resemblance between the berries of this plant and those of physalis, the winter cherry ; 
and Alkekmgi is its Peruvian name. The seeds are common in all the seed-shops, and they only require to b« 
sown in rich earth In March or April, and then thinned out and transplanted, so as to leave those remaining in 
the bed at least three feet apart every way. This species is sometimes called the Peruvian Winter Cherry. 
GENUS V. 
DATURA, Lin. THE DATURA, OR THORN-APPLE. 
Lin. Sysl. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Genek.c CHARACTER.-Calyx angular, 5-toothed, deciduous. Corolla conically funnel-shaped. Stigma 2.1obed. Capsule smooth, or 
echinated. — (G. Don.) 
l.-DATURA STRAMONIUM, Lin. THE STRAMONIUM, OR COMMON THORN-APPLE. 
Specific Character.— Leaves ovate, angularly toothed, cuneidirni 
at the base, smoothish, giecn. Capsule furnished with nearly equal- 
sized spines or prickles. — (G. Don.) 
Synonymhs. — Stramonium vulgare, Mosnch. ; S. vulgatum, 
Gterln. ; S. fcetidum, Scop. ; S. spinosum, Lam. 
Engravings. — Eng. Bot. t. 1288, 2nd ed. vol. ii. t. 315. 
Description, &c._A very remarkable plant, which, though not a trae native of England, has now become 
common as a we*d in this country, among rubbish, or on dunghills; being always found, however, near the 
habitations of men. It is a strong narcotic poison, but it has been much used as a medicine, and about twenty 
or thirty years ago, smoking part of the dried roots and stem waa considered exceUent for the asthma Liko 
