Be  it  acknowledged,  however,  that  we  have  no  desire  to
rise  to  so  lofty  an  elevation.  The  potato-plant — unknown
to  the  ancients,  inasmuch  as  it  is  a  native  of  the  New
World — has  not  been  found  to  lose  its  character  since  its
introduction  into  the  ancient  continent  j  its  congener,  the
nightshade — an  old  native,  like  every  bad  herb — accom-
panies it  everywhere ;  but  its  fibrous  roots  are  absolutely
virgin  of  every  farinaceous  tubercule.
Though  the  nightshade  is  common  everywhere,  Tournefort
was  the  first  to  describe  it  with  complete  accuracy.  That
great  observer  even  specifies  various  peculiarities  which  most
of  our  botanists  omit  from  their  descriptions.  Thus,  he
rightly  remarks,  that  the  peduncles  branch  out  so  as  to
form  a  kind  of  umbel,  and  do  not  emerge,  as  is  usually
the  case,  from  the  axils  of  the  leaves,  but  a  little  below,
from  the  very  branches  of  the  stem.  He  was  also  the  first
to  note — and  it  was  a  veritable  discovery — that  the  white
flowers  of  the  nightshade,  grouped  in  threes  to  eights,  are
each  formed  of  a  single  cup-shaped  leaf, — in  other  words,
that  the  corolla  is  monophyllous,  and  slightly  bell-like  or
campanulated.  Nor  does  he  forget  to  describe  the  disposi-


DIFFERENT  VARIETIES.  85

tion  of  the  five  stamens,  set  close  around  the  pistil,  which,
as  it  develops,  forms  a  globular  bacciform  fruit,  embraced
by  a  five-lobed  calyx.  This  fruit,  which  changes  in  colour
from  green  to  black,  is  rilled  with  a  great  number  of  grains
in  a  thick  liquid,  exhaling  a  nauseous  odour.  As  for  the
leaves,  they  resemble  those  of  spinach,  for  which,  in  some
countries,  they  serve  as  a  substitute.
