SOLANACEJE. (NIGHTSHADE FAMILY.) 355 
the peduncles also mostly lateral and extra-axillary. (Name of 
unknown derivation.) 
1. s. Dulcamara, L. (Bittersweet.) Stem somewhat 
shrvbby, climbing, nearly smooth; leaves ovate-heart-shaped, the upper 
halbert-shaped, or with two ear-like lobes at the base ; flowers (purple) 
in small cymes which become lateral (opposite the leaves) ; berries 
oval, scarlet. — Moist banks and around dwellings, naturalized. 
2. S. nigrum, L. (Common Nightshade.) Annual , low, 
much branched and often spreading, rough on the angles; leaves 
ovate, wavy-toothed ; flowers (very small, white) in small and umbel¬ 
like lateral dusters, drooping ; berries globular, black. — Waste pla¬ 
ces* introduced ? July - Aug. — A homely weed, said to be poi¬ 
sonous. 
3. S. Carolinense, L. (Horse Nettle.) Perennial, low 
(1° high); stem erect, prickly; leaves ovate-oblong, acute, sinuate¬ 
toothed or angled, hoary-pubescent, prickly along the midrib, as also 
the calyx ; flowers (pale blue or white, large) in simple loose racemes; 
berries globular, orange-yellow. — Sandy soil, Connecticut to Ohio, 
southward. June - Aug. 
S. tuberosum, L., the Potato, and S. Melongena, L., the Egg- 
Plant, are familiar cultivated representatives of the genus. — Other 
cultivated plants of the family are Lycopersicum esculentum, Mill, 
(the Tomato), and Capsicum Annuum, L. (Cayenne or Red Pepper). 
Atropa Belladonna, L. (Deadly Nightshade), a plant with 
purplish black, very poisonous berries, is rarely found spontaneous 
around gardens. 
Lycium Barbarum, L. (Barbary Box-thorn, or Matrimony- 
vine), a slightly thorny trailing shrubby vine, well known in cultivat¬ 
ed grounds, is rarely found spontaneous. 
Order 78. GENTIAN ACEiE. (Gentian Family.) 
Smooth herbs , with a colorless bitter juice , mostly oppo¬ 
site and sessile entire leaves and no stipules , regular flow¬ 
ers with the stamens as many as the lobes of the corolla , 
which , in the true Gentian Family, are convolute in the bud , 
a l-celled ovary with 2 parietal placentae ; the fruit mostly 
a 2-valved ( septicidal) many-seeded pod . — Calyx persist¬ 
ent. Corolla mostly withering-persistent; the stamens in¬ 
serted on its tube. Seeds anatropous, with a minute em¬ 
bryo in fleshy albumen. 
