LX VII. SOLANACEiE 
343 
Valleys below Simla ; May-October. — Throughout India, ascending to 5000 
ft. — ’Tropical Asia. 
5. Solanum xanthocarpum, Schrad & Wendl. ; FI. Br. Ind. iv. 
236. A low, diffuse herb, more or less rough with scattered, 
stellate hairs ; stems prickly, procumbent, branching. Leaves 
ultimately glabrous, oblong, 2-4 in., pinnatifid, nerves on both 
surfaces armed with numerous, long, straight prickles. Flowers 
blue, 1 in. diam., solitary or in small cymes. Calyx prickly. 
Corolla stehately pubescent outside. Berry glabrous, \ in. diam., 
yellow, often blotched with green. (Fig. 108.) 
Simla, common ; May-October. — Throughout India, ascending to 7000 ft. — 
Tropical Asia and Australia. 
2. PHYSALIS. From the Greek jphysa, a bladder, referring 
to the fruiting calyx. — Chiefly tropical America ; several species 
introduced in the Old World. 
Physalis minima, Linn. ; FI. Br. Ind. iv. 238. An annual, 
erect or diffuse, pubescent herb, 1-3 ft. Leaves stalked, ovate, 
2 xlj in., sinuately angular, acute. Flowers yellow or blue, \ in. 
diam., single on axillary stalks. Calyx 5-lobed. Corolla broadly 
bell-shaped, obscurely 5-lobed, folding at the angles. Ovary 
2-celled. Berry green, globose, J in. diam., loosely enclosed in 
the much-enlarged, inflated, 5-angled calyx. 
Simla, on waste ground near houses ; July-November. — Throughout India, 
" ascending to 7000 ft. 
The Cape Gooseberry, P. 'peruviana, is cultivated throughout India ; the 
corolla has 5 large purple spots near the base, and the ripe fruit is yellow. 
3. WITHANIA. Supposed to be in honour of H. Witham, a 
British geologist and writer on fossil botany in the nineteenth 
century. — Mediterranean region, W. Asia. 
Withania coagulans, Dunal ; FI. Br. Ind. iv. 240. An erect 
shrub, 1-3 ft., densely clothed with minute, ashy-grey, stellate 
hairs. Leaves stalked, thick, oblong-ovate, 1-2 in., entire, obtuse. 
Flowers yellow, nearly \ in. diam., often 1 -sexual, on short, 
drooping stalks in axillary clusters. Calyx tomentose, 5-toothed. 
Corolla bell-shaped, stellately hairy outside ; lobes recurved. 
Anthers free. Ovary 2-celled. Berry globose, J in. diam., nearly 
enclosed by the enlarged calyx. 
Sutlej valley ; November- April. — Punjab, ascending to 3000 ft. — Sind 
Baluchistan, Afghanistan. 
The powdered seeds are used to coagulate milk preparatory to the manufac- 
ture of cheese. Native name Punirband, cheese-maker. 
4. NICANDRA. In honour of Nicander, a Greek writer on 
medicine and the properties of plants, about a.d. 150. — A single 
species, native of Peru, cultivated in nearly all warm regions. 
