Plant Gardens 101

Potato family
Solanaceae
Hy-o-sy’a-mus. Very poisonous or medicinal herbs from the Mediterranean region.

Description
Leaves coarsely toothed. Corolla funnel-shaped, whitish or yellowish.

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Potato family
Solanaceae
Brow-wall’i-a. A genus of mostly tropical American herbs, several widely grown, mostly blue-flowered.

Description
Leaves simple, mostly alternate. Flowers solitary or in somewhat 1-sided racemes. Calyx tubular, usually with 5 teeth. Corolla tubular, the 5-lobed limb more or less irregular.

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Potato family
Solanaceae
Kap’si-kum. A genus of tropical woody plants yielding Red (but not black) Peppers, Tabasco, and Cayenne Peppers, as well as the milder peppers commonly grown as vegetables. Most are from tropical America.

Description
Leaves alternate, simple, without marginal teeth. Flowers white or greenish white, usually stalked and solitary or in 2- to 3-flowered clusters, generally wheel-shaped and 5-lobed. Fruit typically podlike with a thickish rind. Most are hot; all are edible.

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Potato family
Solanaceae
Sky-zan’thus. Fringe Flower ; Butterfly Flower ; Poor Man’s Orchid . Chilean brittle annuals, comprising about 10 species.

Description
Leaves alternate, broadly lance-shaped, usually cut into many fernlike, light green segments. Flowers showy, in terminal, loose, many-flowered clusters, of many colors. Corolla margins of contrasting colors or shades, with streaks and spots of another color or shade at the base. Calyx 5-lobed, joined at the base. Corolla a short tube opening widely into 2 lips, the upper 2-lobed, the lower 3-lobed. Stamens 2, prominent.

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Potato family
Solanaceae
So-lay’num. Nightshade . A huge genus of herbs, shrubs, vines, and sometimes trees, comprising about 1700 species of nearly worldwide distribution, but overwhelmingly tropical. The genus includes the Potato and Eggplant, as well as ornamental plants for the greenhouse or outdoor culture in the South; some are pernicious weeds.

Description
Leaves alternate, the juice of the wilted leaves deadly in some species, suspect in most others. Flowers often borne in the leaf axils or near them, often solitary or in few-flowered clusters. Calyx united. Corolla regular, shallowly bell- or wheel-shaped, the 5 stamens usually inserted on its throat. Fruit edible in some species, deadly poisonous in others.

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Potato family
Solanaceae
Ny-kan’dra. A single strong-growing species from Peru that has escaped from cultivation and become naturalized in tropical America and U.S. Often grown in the garden for its dried seed cases.

Description
Leaves alternate, ovalish, with toothed margins. Flowers large, calyx 5-parted, stamens 5. Fruit a 3- to 5-celled, many seeded berry enclosed in an inflated calyx.

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Potato family
Solanaceae
Near-em-berg’i-a or near-em-ber’ji-a. Cupflower . Tropical American herbs or subshrubs comprising about 30 species, 4 grown for their attractive tubular flowers.

Description
Leaves alternate, somewhat scattered, without marginal teeth. Flowers white or pale blue, mostly near the ends of twigs. Calyx more or less bell-shaped, 5-parted. Corolla long-tubed, the 5-lobed limb abruptly expanded, throat yellow. Stamens 5, protruding, one shorter than the others.

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Potato family
Solanaceae
Dah-toor’ra. A genus of 12-15 species, ranging from annual weeds to tropical trees, all with foliage that is malodorous when crushed.

Description
Leaves alternate, often coarsely but remotely toothed. Flowers usually trumpet-shaped, solitary, mostly from the leaf axils. Calyx with a long tube splitting lengthwise or across. Corolla with a spreading limb.

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Potato family
Solanaceae
Sal-pi-gloss’is. Chilean herbs comprising about 5 species, mostly covered with short, sticky hairs.

Description
Leaves alternate, broadly lance-shaped, margins wavy or slightly cut. Flowers in loose terminal clusters growing from the axils of small leafy bracts. Individual flowers large, showy, velvety, colors varying, generally veined with gold. Calyx of 5 sepals, joined three-quarters of their length. Corolla funnel-shaped, widely open at the throat, the 5 lobes notched. Stamens 5.

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Potato family
Solanaceae
Pe-too’ni-a. An important group of garden flowers, comprising about 30 species of herbs, nearly all from Argentina.

Description
Leaves soft, without marginal teeth, alternate below but the upper ones opposite. Flowers variously colored, the corolla funnel-shaped. Stamens 5, 4 in pairs, the odd one smaller, rudimentary, and sterile.

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Potato family
Solanaceae
Ni-ko-she-a’na. Seventy herbaceous species, occasionally shrubby or treelike, mostly tropical, all American except for one found in Australia. Prized for their long flowering period.

Description
Whole plant more or less covered with short, sticky hairs. Stems branching, sometimes joined. Leaves large, soft, alternate, simple, the juice having narcotic or poisonous properties. Flowers in clusters at ends of branches, sweet-scented, originally opening at night and remaining open on sunless days; white, greenish yellow, or purple. Calyx of 5 partly united green sepals. Corolla tubular or funnel-shaped. Stamens 5.

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