Dicotyledons with Gomopetalous Flowers — Solanacece . 
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Number of British Genera, 3 ; Species, 4. 
Leaves simple, very frequently arranged in pairs, {geminate), but not opposite ; rarely pinnately divided as in 
Potato {Solanum tuberosum). 
Flowers solitary or cymose ; peduncles usually extra-axillary as in Bittersweet {Solanum Dulcamara). 
Calyx enlarged after flowering and persistent {marcescent) in Winter Cherry {Physalis Alkekengi). 
Stamens dehiscing lengthwise, or in Solanum by terminal pores. 
Ovary 2-celled ; spuriously 4-celled in Thorn-apple {Datura), owing to the inflection of the dorsal suture of 
the carpels. 
Fruit various; a berry as in Bittersweet and Potato {Solanum), Deadly Nightshade {Atropa) and Tomato 
{Lycopersicum); a capsule dehiscing by valves as in Tobacco ( Nicotiana) and Thorn-apple {Datura), or 
transversely by a lid as in Henbane {Hyoscyamus). 
USES, &c. — Although Solanacese include several very important food-producing plants, yet generally the 
Order is narcotic and dangerous, and several species are notoriously poisonous. Of these, Deadly Nightshade 
{Atropa Belladonna), occasionally found in lanes and about ruins in England, the black and cherry-like berries of 
which are sometimes eaten by children, and Plenbane {Hyoscyamus niger), a plant of neglected ground about 
villages, are amongst the more remarkable. Both are employed medicinally, as is the narcotic Stramonium or 
Thorn-apple {Datura). The principal food-plants of the Order are : Potato {Solanum tuberosum), probably of 
Peruvian or Chilian origin, now everywhere cultivated in temperate climates for the sake of its farinaceous tubers— 
the berries are dangerous ; Tomato (. Lycopersicum esculentum), of Tropical America; and the Aubergine {Solanum 
Melongena). Egg-apple {S. oviferum) and Winter Cherry ( Pkysalis Alkekengi) afford fruits rendered harmless by 
cooking. Tobacco, as imported for smoking and the manufacture of snuff, consists of the leaves of two or three 
species of Nicotiana, dried by methods adapted to favour a fermentative process developing its peculiar narcotic 
principle. The species are probably of American origin, but now cultivated very widely in both Hemispheres ; our 
chief supply being derived from the United States, Cuba, the Northern Provinces of South America, and 
Manila. It was first imported into Europe in the sixteenth century. Nicotiana Tabacum is the principal 
Tobacco-yielding species. Capsicums are the fruits of tropical species of Capsicum; the seeds are ground as 
Cayenne pepper, used as a pungent condiment. 
Many Solanaceas are very ornamental and frequent in cultivation, as Petunias, the large-flowered Brugmansias 
and Daturas , many species of Solanum, the shrubby Lyciums , often called Tea-plants, Fabiana , Nierembergia , 
Nicotiana , Oestrum and Iiabrothamnus. 
