Solanaceae

“ Japicanga Griseb., 714 ” lanceæfolia Roxb., 712 ” medica Schl. et Cham., 704 ” officinalis Humb. Boupl. et Kth, 704. 707 ” papyracea Poiret, 705 ” Pseudo-China L., 714 ” Purhampuy Ruiz, 705 ” Schomburgkiana Kunth, 705 ” syphilitica H.B. et K., 205 ” syringoides Griseb., 714 ” tamnifolia Michaux, 714 Snake-root, black, 15 ” Red River, 593 ” Texan, 593 ” Virginian, 592 Socaloïn, 688 Soffar, 234 Solanaceæ, 450 Solanicine, 451 Solanidine, 451 Solanine, 451 Solanum Dulcamara L., 450 ” nigrum L., 450 ” tuberosum L., 633 Solazzi Juice, 184 Solenostemma Argel Hayne, 218. ”

“ The Solanums.—This family, so wonderfully varied, affords numerous species that look graceful and imposing in leaf when in a young and free-growing state. In selecting examples from this great genus we must be careful, as our climate is a shade too cold for some of the kinds grown on the continent, and many of them are of too ragged an aspect to be tolerated in a tasteful garden. Half a dozen species or so are indispensable, but there is quite a crowd of narrow-leaved and ignoble ones which may well be passed over. ”

“ May be placed to great advantage in groups in round beds with dwarfer plants or shrubs at the base, or with climbing plants ascending the stems, but is much better isolated on slopes, etc. It is a vigorous grower, and should have rich soil.
Solanum crinitipes.—A slow-growing woody species with undivided oval leaves somewhat more than a foot long: the young stems and flower-stalks being densely covered with chaffy hairs somewhat like those of a fern. This I have not seen thrive so well in England as the preceding kind, but it is well worthy of trial in full collections in the southern counties. ”

“ The buds of some produce leaves only, others flowers; while in other species the same bud bears both leaves and flowers. Different causes, depending on the soil or situation, seem in one case to generate leaf-buds, in another flower-buds. Thus the Solandra grandiflora, Tr. of Linn. Soc. v. 6. 99. t. 6, a Jamaica shrub, was for a number of years cultivated in the English stoves, and propagated extensively by cuttings, each plant growing many feet in length every season, from abundance of moisture and nourishment, without showing any signs of fructification. ”

“ Solanum crinitum.—A vigorous-growing species from Guiana, 5 ft. or more in height, with stout stems, set with short strong spines and dense long hairs. It has very large, soft, hairy, spreading, roundish leaves, which in good soil attain a length of 21⁄2 ft.: the upper surface of a tender green colour with violet veinings set with spines, as are also the leaf-stalks; the under side whitish and more thickly furnished with spines. ”

“ Solanum macranthum.—A fine species from Brazil, confessedly one of the best kinds in cultivation, and somewhat resembling Polymnia grandis. It grows nearly 7 ft. high in one year, with a stout, simple, spiny stem of a deep shining green with grayish spots, and sparsely armed with very strong shortish spines. The leaves are elegant and deeply cut, some of them over 21⁄2 ft. long, falling gracefully earthwards, of a light green on the upper surface, with red veinings, the under side having a reddish hue. The flowers, seldom seen with us, are of a fine violet colour, and grow in corymbs. ”

“ The flowers are drooping, and in Brugmansia suaveolens, formerly Datura arborea, they are very fragrant. The anthers grow together. The capsule is two-celled, smooth, and of a golden yellow, and the seeds are each covered with a thick corky skin. In Solandra, a nearly allied genus, the calyx bursts on one side, and the lobes of the corolla are not cuspidate, but rounded and fringed. The stamens also project beyond the mouth of the corolla, and the capsule is four-celled. The species of Solandra are all stove-trees. ”

“ Solanum.—S. jasminoides.—Some of the species of this large genus are twiners; but this is a true leaf-climber. A long, nearly upright shoot made four revolutions, moving against the sun, very regularly at an average rate of 3 h. 26 m. The shoots, however, sometimes stand still. It is considered a greenhouse plant; but when kept there, the petioles took several days to clasp a stick: in the hothouse a stick was clasped in 7 h. In the greenhouse a
Solanum jasminoides, with one of its leaves clasping a stick. ”

“ The genus Solanum is easily recognised by a botanist through all its numerous species by its anthers, which open by two pores like those of the Ericaceæ, and which differ in this respect, from the anthers of all the other plants contained in the Order, all of which open by a long slit down each cell. The flowers of all the species of Solanum are of the kind called rotate, or wheel-shaped;143 but they are generally cut into five distinct segments: which are sometimes turned back, as in the flower of the Bitter-sweet (S. Dulcamara) , as shown in fig. ”

“ It is true that these apples are sometimes full of dust, but this appears only when the fruit is attacked by an insect, which converts the whole of the inside into dust, leaving nothing but the rind entire, without causing it to lose any of its colour.’
Linnaeus thought, also, that they were the fruit of a solanum, and named a species having large yellow berries, with black seeds, surrounded by a greenish pulp, which dries into a bitter, nauseous powder, solanum Sodomeum; but it has been found that this plant is a native of Southern Africa, and not of Palestine. ”

“ In these the axis remains short, nearly as it is in the bud; the leaves therefore remain close together in sets or circles; the outer ones, those of the calyx, generally partake more or less of the character of foliage; the next set are more delicate, and form the corolla, while the rest, the stamens and pistils, appear under forms very different from those of ordinary leaves, and are concerned in the production of seed. This view gives to Botany an interest which one who merely notices the shape and counts the parts of blossoms, without understanding their plan, has no conception of. ”

“ It can usually be found bearing blossoms and fruit in all stages of development, and is one of the coarser weeds that is quite sure to find its way into cultivated ground and become thoroughly established if sufficient time is given it. Much more attractive than the above is Solanum umbelliferum, Esch., which forms long, straggling, tomentose stems, that climb over surrounding shrubbery and peep out here and there with small clusters of large, yellow-throated, blue flowers. This forms one of the cheerful surprises as a person pushes his way through the dust-laden underbrush. ”

“ Not a large family, widely distributed, most abundant in the northern hemisphere; herbs, with opposite leaves and no stipules; flowers usually perfect, rather small, in clusters; the calyx sometimes lacking, or small, but often becoming conspicuous in fruit; corolla somewhat irregular, tube sometimes swollen or spurred at base, lobes united and spreading, usually five; stamens one to four, with slender filaments, on the corolla, alternate with its lobes; ovary inferior, with one to three cells, only one containing an ovule, the others empty; style slender ”

“ Sepals extended into ears at the base. Petals somewhat unequal, the lower one spurred at the base. Stamens closely surrounding the ovary, often slightly cohering with each other; the two lower bearing spurs which project into the spur of the corolla. Besides these conspicuous blossoms, which appear in spring, others are produced later (especially in the stemless species) , on shorter peduncles or on runners, usually concealed under the leaves; these never open nor develop petals, but are fertilized in the bud, and are far more fruitful than the ordinary blossoms. ”

“ All the Soldanellas love a vegetable soil, as peat or leaf mould, [Pg 277] to which, when under cultivation, a liberal quantity of sand should be added. If grown in pots, they make lovely specimens, and should be plunged in sand and kept moist; but I find my specimens to grow much more vigorously when planted out, as they are at the base of a small rockery, rather below the level of the neighbouring walk, which forms a miniature watershed for the supply of moisture. ”

“ All the genera in both tribes agree in their flowers having only two stamens, an ovary with two cells, and two seeds in each cell; and anthers with two cells, which open with a long slit lengthways.
The species of the Ash have no corolla; but in all the genera where there is one, the filaments of the stamens, which are very short, are inserted in it; and it is generally funnel-shaped—as, for example, the corolla of the Jasmine. Though the ovary is two-celled, and the cells two-seeded, each flower very often only produces one perfect seed. The leaves are generally pinnate. ”

“ It must be a very curious combination of the unit-characters which causes such a state of continuous variability. The pure quality of the species must be combined with the peculiarity of the variety in such a way, that the one excludes the other, or modifies it to some extent, although both never fully display themselves in the same part of the same plant. A corolla cannot be at once monochromatic and striped, nor can the same part of a stem be twisted and straight. But neighboring organs may show the opposite attributes side by side. ”

“ Flowers almost always 5-merous. Calyx mostly small or minute. Corolla various (but not contracted at the orifice) , lobed or cleft, or even parted, often somewhat irregular. Stamens sometimes as few as the corolla-lobes, more commonly twice as many, usually declined; anther-cells opening by a round terminal pore. Capsule 5-celled, 5-valved, many-seeded. Seeds scale-like.—Shrubs or small trees, of diverse habit and character, with chiefly alternate entire leaves, and large and showy flowers in umbelled clusters from large scaly-bracted terminal buds. ”

“ Petal-bearing flowers solitary; the small secondary flowers clustered in the axils of the leaves, nearly sessile; calyx of the large flowers hairy-pubescent, of the small ones hoary, like the stem and lower side of the lanceolate-oblong leaves.—Sandy or gravelly dry soil, Maine to Minn. and southward. June–Aug.—Stems at first simple. Corolla of the large flowers 1 ́ wide, producing pods 3 ́ ́ long; pods of the smaller flowers not larger than a pin's head. A variety is more hoary, and with a stronger tendency to multiply the minute clustered flowers. ”

“ In general it is to be said that stamens and pistils may reach functional maturity in darkness or diffuse light, and if pollination is provided for, seed and fruit formation may ensue.
The diminution of light has the effect of transforming inflorescences into leafy shoots in some instances, however. The more common reaction consists of alterations in the size, form, and color of the perianth, and greater changes are induced in the petals than in the sepals. The corolla shows greater decrease in size in Melandryum and Silene, in diffuse light, though the relative form is maintained. ”

“ The flowers are generally borne in capitula, racemes, or spikes.—Trifolium (Clover) . The corolla is gamopetalous. The calyx persists, together with the corolla, round the ripe fruit. The inflorescence is a spike, capitulum or capitate umbel; the leaves are ternate, and have adnate stipules.—Medicago (Medick) . The corolla falls off after flowering; fruit curved like a sickle or spirally twisted; it is a nut, and opens with difficulty. Leaves ternate.—Melilotus (Melilot) has a small, spherical or lanceolate, thick and wrinkled fruit, which as a rule is indehiscent. ”

“ The hardy plants belonging to this order, that are well known in Britain, were formerly included in the genus Anona; but now the only246 species retained in that genus are stove plants, natives of the West Indies, with yellowish brown or dark purple flowers, the calyx of which is in three sepals, and the corolla in three or six thick fleshy petals, and which have numerous stamens with large angular anthers, and very short filaments. The carpels are numerous, but they grow altogether into a fleshy eatable fruit, divided into many cells, each containing one seed. ”

“ It is interesting to note the various ways in which flowers render themselves conspicuous in order to attract insects. In the majority of Seed Plants, such as the Buttercup, Pea, Rose, Foxglove, it is the corolla, formed either of separate petals, as in the first three, or of petals fused together, as in the last, which by its bright colour or colours renders the flower noticeable. In other species the calyx takes on the function of advertisement, the corolla being in comparison insignificant—we may study examples of this in the Anemones, Hellebores, and Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris) . ”

“ Plants having a soft or woolly foliage should never be wetted overhead, but those with hard and shiny leaves may be freely syringed, especially when in full growth.
Solanum.—Showy greenhouse shrubs, some of which have ornamental foliage. The soil in which they are grown should be light and rich. Cuttings planted in sand under glass strike readily. The tender annual varieties may be sown on a hotbed in spring, and placed in the border at the end of May in a dry, sheltered situation, where they will flower in June. Height, 1 ft. ”

“ Solanum.—The well known S. jasminoides may be employed to clothe either walls, pillars, or roof. Plant in the border and keep well watered in summer. It may be easily increased by means of cuttings.
Tacsonia.—The species with which this interesting genus is made up are eminently beautiful, but only adapted for large houses. They are strong growers, and unless they can ramble about freely, very few flowers will be the result. Treat them as advised for the Passifloras. The best for the greenhouse are T. Buchanani, T. Van Volxemi, and T. eriantha. ”