SOLANUM DULCAMARA-WOODY NIGHTSHADE, OR BITTER SWEET. 
Class V. PENTANDRIA.— Order I. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order, SOLANEJ1. THE NIGHTSHADE TRIBE. 
Fig. (a) Solanum Nigrum, Common or Garden Nightshade. The whole Plant poisonous. 
Woody Nightshade, called also Bitter-sweet, from the flavour of the herb when chewed, and in Cum- 
berland, Fellonwood, is an indigenous climbing shrub, very common in moist hedges, on the banks of 
ditches, and sometimes on old walls ; flowering from J une to September. It grows also in similar situations 
in most parts of Europe, occurring in Greece, and even as far north as Norway. 
This well-known species of Solanum has several long, slender, roundish, winding stems, divided into a 
few erect, alternate branches, and rising, when supported, to the height of eight or ten feet. The stalks are 
covered with a greyish-green bark, on the lower part, but of a purple hue on the upper side, towards the 
ends of the branches. The root is small, creeping, and woody. The leaves are alternate, acute, mostly 
smooth, though sometimes hairy, soft, of a dull green colour, and supported on footstalks. They are cor- 
date towards the bottom ; more or less perfectly halbert-shaped at the top. The flowers are in very elegant, 
branched corymbiform racemes opposite to the leaves, or terminal ; drooping, divaricate, and alternately 
subdivided. The calyx is small, 5-10-cleft, with blunt segments : corolla wheel-shaped, consisting of five, 
reflected, equally divided, acute, violet-coloured segments, with two round pale green, or whitish spots at 
the base, and large yellow anthers, longer than the filaments, subcoalescent into a sort of cone. The germen 
is roundish, having a thread-shaped style projecting beyond the anthers which dehisce by pores. The 
berries, which ripen in autumn, are oval, scarlet, full of a nauseous juice, and contain several whitish, plano- 
convex seeds. 
The origin of the word Solanum is extremely doubtful ; some ingenious etymologists derive it from 
Solamen, ( a solari ,) comfort or consolation, in allusion to the relief afforded by some species as medicines, 
while other commentators believe the name to be a corruption of “ Sulanum a suibus qu. suillum, quod 
suibus adversus venenosos morbos exhiberi solet and others again, a sole, referring to the splendour of 
the fruit. 
Qualities and Chemical Properties. — The dried herb is inodorous ; but the smell of the recent 
plant is heavy and disagreeable. The stalks, whether fresh or dried, have a slightly bitter taste, followed 
by a remarkable sweetness, somewhat resembling liquorice, a peculiarity which, no doubt, suggested the 
names Glycypicros and Dulcamara, of which the English trivial name is a just translation. The twigs, which 
for medicinal use should be gathered in the autumn, are the only parts employed, though the roots are said 
to possess similar qualities. — Water appears to be a perfect solvent of their active properties ; but much 
boiling destroys their powers. The chief soluble portion seems to be a kind of mucous extractive, which is 
taken up both by water and alcohol, though most by the former : and the nitrate of mercury and muriate 
of tin, give precipitates from both, though most from the water. An ounce of the twigs, according to 
Hartmann and Kuhn, when treated with alcohol, afforded two drachms and two scruples of extract. The 
same quantity treated with water, gave three drams and thirty-five grains. 
Poisonous Effects. — Belonging to the same natural order with hyoscyamus, the different species of 
Solanum are considered by Orfila and others, to be possessed of similar properties ; although in a much 
less potent form. Indeed we are inclined to think the identity of name with the deadly nightshade, (Atropa 
belladonna,) which was formerly called likewise, Solanum, (it being the Solanum furiosum, lethale, somni- 
ferum, and melanoceros of the older writers,) has contributed not a little to exaggerate the poisonous character 
of the Dulcamara and other species of the modern genus Solanum. Schlegel, (Hufeland’s journal 54, ii. 29,) 
says, that those persons are in error who have believed Solanum Dulcamara to possess distinct narcotic 
