THE ORDER SOLANACEÆ: ILLUSTRATED BY THE BITTER-SWEET; GARDEN
NIGHTSHADE; POTATO; EGG-PLANT; TOMATO; CAPSICUM; WINTER CHERRY;
CAPE GOOSEBERRY; THE DEADLY NIGHTSHADE; LYCIUM, OR DUKE OF ARGYLE’S
TEA-TREE; CESTRUM; VESTIA; TOBACCO; PETUNIA; NIEREMBERGIA;
SALPIGLOSSIS; SCHIZANTHUS; HENBANE; DATURA; BRUGMANSIA; SOLANDRA;
VERBASCUM; CELSIA; NOLANA; ETC.
This large Order is one of those which appear to have been most
troublesome to botanists, as scarcely any two agree as to the plants to
be comprised in it. I have, however, taken it in its most comprehensive
sense, as far as popular plants are concerned; on the same principles
as those by which I have been guided throughout; viz. that it is
easier for a beginner to remember a few divisions than a great many;
and that when a student has once learnt what plants are nearly allied
to each other, and the general features that connect them, it will be
comparatively easy to learn the minor distinctions between them.
Taking these principles as my guide, I have given the Order Solanaceæ
as it was formed by Jussieu, adding those plants to it which evidently
belong to the several sections, but which have been discovered since
the time of that great naturalist; and I have divided the Order into
four tribes, viz. Solanaceæ, Nicotianeæ, Verbascineæ, and Nolaneæ. All
these plants agree in having the stamens, which are generally five,
inserted in the corolla, the calyx and corolla inclosing the ovary, and
the calyx remaining on the ripe fruit.
TRIBE I.—SOLANACEÆ.
The plants included in this tribe are easily recognised by their
flowers, which bear a considerable resemblance to each other, and
by their berry-like fruit, which has always a persistent calyx. The
corolla is also always folded in the bud; and the folds, like those of
a country woman’s clean apron, are often so deeply impressed as to be
visible in the newly opened flowers. The genera included in this tribe
differ widely in their qualities.
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; 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._ 68
_a_; and sometimes nearly flat, as in the flower of the common garden
Nightshade (_S. nigrum_). The berries of the Bitter-sweet (_b_) are
red, and they have a very pretty effect in hedges and wild coppices,
where they are produced in great abundance during the latter part
of summer and autumn; and those of the Garden Nightshade are black.
Both these plants are poisonous; but this is by no means the case
with all the species of the genus, as the tubers of the potato (_S.
tuberosum_) are, as is well known, wholesome food, and the fruit or
apple is not decidedly poisonous; while the Aubergine, or Egg-plant
(_S. Melongena_), which is another species, has a fruit which is large,
smooth and shining, and which when boiled or stewed is good to eat. The
segments of the corolla of this species are often so deeply notched as
to appear to be six or nine, instead of five.
[Illustration: FIG. 68.—BITTER-SWEET (_Solanum Dulcamara_).]
There are many ornamental species of Solanum, many of which have
woolly, and some prickly leaves; but the flowers have all such a
likeness to each other, as seldom to require to be botanically examined
to be recognised.
The Tomato or Love-apple, (_Lycopersicum esculentum_,) has flowers
which bear a great resemblance to those of some of the species of
Solanum, but the anthers open longitudinally and are connected by a
membrane into a kind of cylinder. The seeds also are hairy; and the
berry is wrinkled, and not of so firm a texture as in Solanum. The
flowers of this plant are frequently united, so as to appear to have
double or treble the usual number of stamens, and two or three styles;
and when this is the case, the fruit appears deformed from two or three
of the ovaries having grown together. The fruit is very good to eat,
and wholesome either boiled or stewed, or as sauce. There are several
species, all of which were formerly included in the genus Solanum.
The plants belonging to the genus Capsicum have flowers which are very
much like those of the Tomato, and which have similar anthers; but
the fruit differs in being a dry, inflated, hollow berry, inclosing
numerous seeds, and in both the seeds and their cover having a fiery
biting heat to the taste. There are several species with fruit of
greater or less size, and different colours; generally red or yellow,
but sometimes white or green. The best Cayenne pepper is made from the
pods of _C. frutescens_, dried in an oven and then reduced to powder.
The annual species (_C. annuum_) has many varieties; one of which
produces the small pods called by the market-gardeners Chilies, and
which are eaten fresh by dyspeptic patients, to assist digestion.
The Winter Cherry (_Physalis Alkekengi_) has the same kind of flower as
the other genera of this tribe. The corolla is rotate, and obscurely
five-lobed; and the stamens, which are connivent, (that is, lying close
together), have very large anthers. When the corolla falls, the calyx
becomes inflated, and expands to a large size, completely enclosing the
little berry-like fruit in the centre. A very beautiful preparation
may be made by soaking this calyx in water till it becomes completely
macerated; that is, till all the pulp is decayed and only the fibrous
part left. The inflated calyx then appears like a beautiful network
covering, with the bright red berry in the centre. To macerate the
calyx properly, it should be left in the same water without changing,
for about six weeks. The Cape Gooseberry (_P. peruviana_) is another
species of the genus Physalis; but instead of being a native of Europe,
it is from Peru; and its flowers, instead of being white, are yellow,
with a dark red spot at the base of each lobe of the corolla: the
berry also is yellow. This species is called Cape Gooseberry, because
it is cultivated as a fruit at the Cape of Good Hope.
[Illustration: FIG. 69.—DEADLY NIGHTSHADE (_Atropa Belladonna_).]
The Deadly Nightshade (_Atropa Belladonna_) differs widely from all
the preceding genera in having a bell-shaped corolla, (see _a_ in
_fig._ 69,) and in the anthers (_b_) not lying close together. It has,
however, a permanent calyx and a two-celled berry, like the rest.
The Barbary Box-thorn, or Duke of Argyle’s Tea-tree, (_Lycium
barbarum_) has a somewhat rotate corolla, with a five-cleft limb, with
the stamens inserted between the segments in the same manner as shown
in the flower of the _Atropa Belladonna_, represented cut open at _b_
in _fig._ 69. The filaments are hairy at the base, and the anthers
are near together, but do not form a cone as in Solanum. The berry is
two-celled, and the calyx remains on when it is ripe, as in all the
other genera of this order. There are several species of Lycium, which
are all known by the English name of Box-thorn; but _L. barbarum_ is
also called the Duke of Argyle’s Tea-tree, from a story told of this
plant being sent to a Duke of Argyle early in the last century, instead
of the true Tea-tree. The story, however, is very doubtful; and the
more so, as in France, the dwarf Chinese Elm is called Thé de l’Abbé
Gallois, as it is said, from a similar cause.
_Cestrum Parqui_ is a very handsome half-hardy shrub, which may
be placed in this division from its berry-like fruit. It has a
funnel-shaped corolla, with a five-lobed limb, enclosing its five
stamens. The flowers are disposed in an upright raceme; they are
yellow, and very fragrant. The berries are of a very dark blue, and
almost black when ripe. _Vestia_ is another genus very nearly allied
to Cestrum, but the stamens project beyond the mouth of the corolla
instead of being enclosed within it; and the flowers, which are
produced singly, have a very disagreeable smell.
TRIBE II.—NICOTIANEÆ.
The plants included in this tribe agree with those of the preceding
division, in having the corolla generally folded in large plaits in
the bud; but they are distinguished by having all capsular fruit: that
is, in all the plants belonging to this tribe, the seed-vessel is dry
and hard when ripe, and not soft and pulpy like a berry. The species
have nearly all funnel-shaped flowers, with a long tube and a spreading
limb; the tube is generally very long in proportion to the limb, and it
is often inflated, so as to appear much wider in the upper part than
near the calyx.
[Illustration: FIG. 70.—VIRGINIAN TOBACCO.]
The Virginian Tobacco (_Nicotiana tabacum_) is an example of an
inflated tube to the corolla (see _fig._ 70, _a_); the limb is small
and divided into five pointed segments; and the capsule (_b_), which
opens at the point into four valves when ripe, contains numerous seeds.
The whole plant is covered with a clammy down, particularly the leaves,
which are large and flabby, and which have their footstalks dilated at
the base, so as partly to enfold the stem. There are many species of
Nicotiana, some of which are very ornamental. It is the dried leaves
that are used as tobacco, or ground into snuff.
The Petunias are so well known, that I need say very little of the
general form of their flowers, except to point out the connexion
between them and the Tobacco. The corolla is salver-shaped, with a
cylindrical tube, wider at the top than at the base, and a five-lobed
limb. There are five stamens of unequal length, which are hidden
in the tube of the corolla. The stigma has a broad head which is
slightly two-lobed; and the calyx remains on the ripe capsule, which
is two-celled, and opens in the upper part with two valves. The seeds
are numerous and very small, and the leaves are pubescent and slightly
clammy. If my readers will take the trouble to compare the Petunia
and the Tobacco, they will be surprised to find how much the flowers
are botanically alike. The differences are, that the calyx is more
leaf-like in the Petunia than in the Tobacco; and the corolla of the
Petunia is somewhat oblique, that is, two of the segments are smaller
than the others; the filaments, also, are thickened at the base. It
will appear extraordinary to every one acquainted with the flowers
of the purple and the white Petunias, to find that some botanists
have placed them in different genera. Such, however, is the case.
On cutting open the delicate little seed of the white Petunia (_P.
nyctaginiflora_), which it must have been very difficult to do, and
examining it in a very powerful microscope, the embryo or germ of the
future plant was found to be curved like that of most of the other
Solanaceæ; whereas when the seed of the purple Petunia (_P. phœnicea_
or _violacea_) was examined in the same manner, the embryo was
discovered to be straight. This purple Petunia has consequently puzzled
botanists as much as some of the other plants I have had occasion
to mention; and it has been called successively _Petunia violacea_,
_Salpiglossis integrifolia_, _Nierembergia phœnicea_, and _Petunia
phœnicea_.
_Nierembergia_ is a genus of ornamental greenhouse plants, easily
distinguished from the Petunias by the great length of the tube of
the corolla, and by the equal segments of the limb. The stamens also
project beyond the flower, being inserted in the throat of the corolla,
and the filaments grow together at the base; the stigma, is, likewise,
curiously dilated into a kind of crescent shape, and it is folded
in a very singular manner round the filaments, as if to support the
anthers. The most common species of this genus are _N. filicaulis_, _N.
calycina_, and _N. gracilis_.
The genus _Salpiglossis_ is now confined to one species, _S. sinuata_,
so called from its notched or scolloped leaves; all the different kinds
being now considered only varieties. The calyx in this species is
five-angled and five-cleft, and the corolla is funnel-shaped, the tube
being very narrow near the base, and spreading out wider towards the
mouth. The limb is five-cleft, and there are five stamens, one being
much smaller than the others. The stigma is transverse, with a channel
through the centre.
_Schizanthus_ is another genus nearly allied to the last, but it is
more difficult to give a just idea of it than of any other that I have
attempted to describe. All the parts of the flower are irregular. The
segments of the calyx are uneven; and the limb of the corolla is cut
into a number of irregular lobes. There are only two perfect stamens,
but there are two other small ones without any pollen in their anthers,
and the rudiments of a fifth. The two perfect stamens are very elastic,
springing upwards and discharging their pollen at the slightest touch.
The capsule is two-celled, the valves opening at top; and the leaves
are bi-pinnatifid.
The genera Salpiglossis and Schizanthus have been removed by Dr.
Lindley from Solanaceæ, and placed by him in the allied order
Scrophularinaceæ, or the Foxglove family.
The Henbane (_Hyoscyamus niger_) has the calyx ventricose at the base,
and the corolla campanulately funnel-shaped; the limb is five-cleft,
and one of the segments is larger than the rest; but the most
remarkable part of this plant is the capsule. When the corolla falls,
the capsule shrouded in the calyx presents the appearance shown at _a_
in _fig._ 71; and as the seeds ripen, the upper part (as shown at _b_)
becomes detached, and opens like a little cap. The leaves are sinuated
and semi-decurrent. There are several species of Henbane, one of which
(_H. aurea_) has the limb of the corolla deeply cut on only one side.
[Illustration: FIG. 71.—HENBANE.]
The genus _Datura_ is nearly allied to _Brugmansia_, but it may be
easily distinguished by its calyx, which divides when the ovary begins
to swell, and the upper part drops off, leaving only the lower part
to enfold the capsule. The corolla of all the species of Datura is
funnel-shaped, and the limb, in the large-flowered kinds, often shows
marks of the plaits in which it lay when it was folded in the bud.
There are five distinct stamens, which are generally enclosed in the
mouth of the corolla. The capsule is fleshy when young, and in most
of the species it is covered with spines. This is the case with _D.
Stramonium_ (the common Thorn-apple), _D. Tatula_, and _D. Metel_, all
of which have also their stamens enclosed; but in _D. ceratocaulon_
the capsule is smooth and the stamens exserted, that is, they project
beyond the tube of the corolla.
The genus Brugmansia is distinguished by its calyx being ventricose,
and only two or three cleft; it is also strongly ribbed. The corolla
is funnel-shaped, the tube being strongly ribbed; and the limb is
five-lobed, the lobes being cuspidate, that is, drawn out into abrupt
points. 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.
TRIBE III.—VERBASCINEÆ.
The plants included in this division differ from those in the preceding
ones, in not having the corolla plaited in the bud, and in having
the anthers only one-celled; distinctions which have been thought of
sufficient importance to induce many botanists to make this tribe a
separate order.
The British plant sometimes called the Shepherd’s Club, and sometimes
the common Mullein or Flannel flower (_Verbascum Thapsus_), is a
familiar example of this genus. In this plant the flower is rotate, or
wheel-shaped, and divided into five rather unequal lobes. The calyx
is five-cleft; and it possesses such a power of collapsing over the
ovary, that when the stem of the plant is struck sharply with a hard
substance, every open flower is forced off by the sudden closing of
its calyx. There are five stamens, the filaments of which are bearded,
and the anthers crescent-shaped; and a capsule, the two cells of which
frequently run into one, and which opens by two valves at the apex.
The flowers are crowded together in a thick spike-like raceme, which
bears no small resemblance to a club. This plant was formerly supposed
to be efficacious in driving away evil spirits; and hence it was
called Hag’s-taper, now corrupted to High-taper. The whole plant is
mucilaginous, and a decoction of it is often given to cattle when they
are suffering under pulmonary complaints; and hence is derived another
of its names, Cow’s Lungwort. The leaves are thick, and woolly on both
sides; and they are decurrent, that is, running down the stem, like
little wings on each side.
_Celsia_ differs from Verbascum botanically in having only four perfect
stamens, two of which are shorter than the others. The racemes are
also much more loose, from the flowers being on rather long pedicels.
Most of the species composing this genus were formerly included in
Verbascum. _Ramonda_ is another genus, which consists only of the
_Verbascum Myconi_ of Linnæus.
TRIBE IV.—NOLANEÆ.
This tribe, which is now made a distinct order by Dr. Lindley, is
principally known by the genus Nolana; the species of which are
annual plants, natives of Chili and Peru, which have lately been much
cultivated in British gardens. The flowers of _Nolana atriplicifolia_,
one of the commonest kinds, very much resemble those of the common
_Convolvulus tricolor_, and the leaves are large and juicy like those
of spinach. On opening the corolla there will be found to be five
stamens, surrounding four or five ovaries, which are crowded together
on a fleshy ring-like disk. These ovaries, when ripe, become as many
drupes, enclosing each a three or four celled nut or bony putamen,
which is marked with three or more grooves on the outside, and has
three or more little holes beneath. All the species of Nolana have
the same peculiarities in their seed-vessels, though they differ in
many other respects. In the same tribe or order are included two
other genera, one of which, called Grabowskia, contains only the
singular shrub formerly called _Lycium boerhaviæfolium_, or _Ehretia
halimifolia_, the nuts of which resemble those of the Coffee.
Besides the plants contained in these four tribes, there are several
other genera which some botanists place in Solanaceæ, and others in
Scrophularineæ; and among these may be mentioned Franciscea, Browallia,
and Anthocercis. In the former of these genera the flowers are small,
the corolla is salver-shaped, and the calyx, which is permanent, is
inflated and smooth. In Browallia, the calyx is strongly ten-ribbed,
and the corolla has an oblique limb; and in both genera there are only
four stamens, two of which are longer than the others. In Anthocercis
there are four perfect stamens and the rudiments of a fifth. The
corolla is not folded in the bud, but has a regular, star-like limb.