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NIGHTSHADE
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NIGHTSHADE , a See also:general See also:term for the genus of See also:plants known to botanists as Solanum. The See also:species to which the name of nightshade is commonly given in See also:England is Solanum Dulcamara which is also called bittersweet or woody nightshade (see fig. I). It is a See also:common plant in See also:damp hedgebanks and thickets, scrambling over underwood and hedges. It has slender slightly woody stems, with alternate lanceolate leaves more or less See also:heart-shaped and auriculate at the See also:base. The See also:flowers are arranged in drooping clusters and resemble those of the See also:potato in shape, although
'Poets and novelists are See also:apt to command at will the See also:song of this See also:bird, irrespective of See also:season. If the See also:appearance of truth is to be regarded, it is dangerous to introduce a See also:nightingale as singing in England before the 15th of See also:April or after the 15th of See also:June. The " See also:early nightingale " of newspaper paragraphs is generally a See also:thrush.
much smaller. The See also:flower clusters See also:spring from the stems at the See also:side of, or opposite to, the insertion of a See also:leaf. The corolla is rotate, of a See also:lilac-See also:blue See also:colour with a See also:green spot at the base of each segment, or sometimes See also: Solanum Dulcamara is subject to the same parasitic fungus (Phyla-p h t h or a infest-ens) as the 2 potato, and cut across, enlarged; 4, See also:seed, much enlarged. communicating the spores to the potato if not removed from the hedges of the See also:fields where potatoes are grown. The plant derives its names of " bittersweet " and Dulcamara from the fact that its See also:taste is at first See also:bitter and then sweet. It is a native of See also:Europe, See also:North See also:Africa and See also:temper-See also:ate See also:Asia, and has been introduced into North See also:America. The dried See also:young branches are known in See also:pharmacy under the name dulcamara. Dulcamara contains a bitter principle yielding by decomposition a See also:sugar dextrose and the See also:alkaloid solanine. It also contains another See also:glucoside dulcamarin, which when boiled with dilute See also:acid splits up into sugar and dulcamaretin. Solanine appears to exert a depressant See also:action on the vagus See also:nerve and 2, corolla, with stamens, cut open and flattened, Solanum Duleag nat. See also:size; 3, See also:cross See also:section of ovary, much differs from S. white enlarged. mares in having white flowers in small umbels and globose See also:black berries. It is a common See also:weed in gardens and See also:waste places, growing about 12 or 18 in. high, and has ovate, entire or sinuate or toothed leaves. Two varieties of the plant, one with red and the other with yellow berries, are sometimes met with, but are comparatively rare. The berries have been known to produce poisonous effects when eaten by children, and owe their properties to the presence of solanine. In See also:Reunion and See also:Mauritius the leaves are eaten like See also:spinach. Deadly nightshade, dwale or See also:belladonna (Atropa belladonna) is a tall bushy See also:herb of the same natural See also:order (fig. 2). It grows to a height of 4 or 5 ft., having leaves of a dull green colour, with a black shining See also:berry See also:fruit about the size of a See also:cherry, and a large tapering See also:root. The plant is a native of central and See also:south Europe, extending into Asia, and is found locally in England, chiefly on See also:chalk and See also:limestone, from See also:Westmorland and south-wards. The entire plant is highly poisonous, and accidents not infrequently occur through children and unwary persons eating the attractive-looking fruit. Its leaves and roots are largely used in See also:medicine, on which See also:account the plant is cultivated, chiefly in south See also:Germany, See also:Switzerland and See also:France (see BELLADONNA). The name nightshade is applied to plants of different genera in other countries. See also:American nightshade is Piiytolacca decandra (poke-weed, q.v.). The three-leaved nightshade is an American species of Trillium. The See also:Malabar nightshade is Basella, which is widely used as a pot-herb in See also:India. Enchanter's nightshade is Circaea lutetiana, a small, glandular, softly-hairy plant, common in damp See also:woods, with slender, erect or ascending stems, paired ovate leaves with long stalks, and small white flowers in terminal racemes, succeeded by a small fruit covered with hooked bristles; it is a member of the natural order See also:Onagraceae, and is not known to possess any poisonous See also:property; the name seems to have been given to it in the first See also:place in ,See also:mistake for a species of Mandragora (see See also:MANDRAKE). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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