1080 
LXXXVI. SOLANACEJE. 
[Solatium . 
long. Flowers small and white, in little cymes usually contracted into umbels, 
on a common peduncle, from very short to nearly lin. long. Calyx 5-toothed 
or lobed to the middle. Corolla deeply lobed, 8 to nearly 4 lines diameter. 
Anthers very obtuse and short, opening in terminal slits, often at length con- 
tinued down the sides. Berry small, globular, usually nearly black, but sometimes 
green yellow or dingy red. — R. Br. Prod. 445 ; Hook. f. FI. Tasm. i. 288, and 
FI. Brit. Ind. iv. 229 ; Solatium “ Morelia yeree,” Dun. in DC. Prod. xiii. part i. 
45 to 59, as to the greater number of the supposed species included in the group ; 
S. rub rum, Mill.; Nees, in PI. Preiss. i. 845 ; Rheede, Hort. Mai. x. t. 73 ; 
Rumpb. Herb. Amb. vi. t. 2G, fig. 2. 
Hab.: Broadsound, R. Brown ; Port Curtis, M'GUlivray ; met with in all parts. 
The form with reddish fruit found in Europe has not been met with in Queensland. Two of 
the forms, however, are common in most parts — one with black fruit, and of erect habit ; the 
other of somewhat straggling habit, more or less downy, and the fruit somewhat greenish. It 
is thi' last-mentioned form, I believe, that possesses the dangerous properties; children often 
eat the ripe berries without any ill-consequences, at other times they are made very ill from 
eating them. Deaths of cows have been recorded from eating the green plant. 
2. S. aviculare (eaten by birds), Font. Prod. 18 ; Benth. FI. Austr. iv. 447. 
An erect glabrous unarmed vigorous undershrub or shrub, attaining 5 or 6ft. 
or even more, flowering the first year so as then to appear herbaceous. Leaves 
lanceolate, acute or rarely almost obtuse, mostly entire on the older shrubby 
individuals, often pinnatifid with 1,2 or 3 lanceolate lobes on each side on the 
younger ones, especially the first year, the larger leaves 6 to lOin. long, but in 
some specimens all under 4in., tapering at the base and often shortly petiolate, 
in some varieties decurrent so as to form raised angles on the stems. Flowers 
few, large, in short loose pedunculate racemes, mostly lateral. Pedicels rather 
long. Calyx-lobes short, broad, very obtuse or mucrcnate. Corolla f to lin. 
diameter, very shortly and broadly lobed. Filaments filiform, as long as or 
longer than the anthers, which are oblong, very obtuse, parallel, opening in 
terminal tranverse slits, which are at length more or less continued down the 
sides and often to the base. Stigma capitate, siightly 2-lobed. Berries ovoid 
or globular, green or yellow, rather large.— Dun. in DC. Prod, xiii., part i. 69; 
Hook. f. FI. Tasm. i. 283 ; S', laciniatum, Ait. Hort. Kew, ed. 1, i. 247 ; R. Br. 
Prod. 445; Bot. Mag. t. 349; Dun. l.c. 69 ; S. reclinatum, L’Her.; Dun. l.c. 68; 
S. vescum, F. v. M. in Trans. Viet. Inst. 1855, 69, in Hook. Kew Journ. viii. 165 
and 836, and PI. Viet. ii. t. 62. 
Hab.: Abundant in southern scrubs. 
According to Dr. Joseph Bancroft, this plant is poisonous. 
Dr. T. L. Bancroft slates that the plant contains a large amount of volatile alkaloid poison, 
which proba'dy is nicotine. 
3. S. simile (like some plants of S. aviculare), F. v. M. Trans. Phil. Soc. 
Viet. i. 19, and Frai/m. vi. 145 ; Benth. FI. Austr. iv. 448. A glabrous erect 
unarmed undershrub or shrub, closely resembling entire-leaved specimens of S. 
aviculare, usually not so stout, although attaining 4 or 5ft. Leaves lanceolate or 
linear, usually obtuse, contracted into a short petiole, not decurrent, entire or 
rarely with 1 or 2 short lobes on each side near the base, mostly only 2 or Sin. 
long. Flowers smaller than in S. aviculare, few in lateral racemes, with a very 
short or sometimes scarcely any common peduncle. Calyx and corolla otherwise 
nearly as in S. aviculare, the corolla not much above Ain. diameter. Anthers 
obtuse, parallel, opening at length down the sides. Berry globular, ovoid or 
oblong, usually smaller than in 5. aviculare, and purple. Seeds rather large. — 
.S', laciniatum, var., R. Br. Prod. 445 ; Benth. in Hueg. Enum. 82; Nees, in PI. 
Preiss. i. 345 ; S . fasciculatum , F. v. M. Fragm. i. 123, vi. 144. 
Hab.: Southern scrubs. 
4. S. pseudo^capsicum (fruit resembling a Capsicum), Linn.; Dun. in 
DC. Prod. xiii. part i. 152; Benth. FI. Austr. iv. 448. A glabrous unarmed 
erect shrub or undershrub, attaining 8 to 4ft. Leaves broadly lanceolate, entire, 
