Solanum L.
Fls solitary or in cymes or umbels; calyx 5-10-lobed. Corolla white, purple or blue, rotate, 5-10-lobed. Stamens inserted near throat of corolla-tube, filaments short; anthers long, exserted, connivent or cohering in a cone, dehiscing by apical pores. Ovary 2-loculed, sts appearing 3-4-loculed by ingrowth of subsidiary partitions. Fr. a berry with ∞ seeds. Herbs, shrubs, lianes or small trees with alt. or sts paired lvs. Widespread genus of some 1500 spp., but mainly tropical.
Key
1
Lvs, most or all, not < 10 cm. long; fls not < 2 cm. diam.; planta soft-wooded shrub up to c. 3 m. tall
Lvs, most or all, not > c. 6 cm. long; fls not > c. 1 cm. diam.; plant a herb or softly woody only near base, up to c. 1 m. tall
G. T. S. Baylis has given a most useful account of S. aviculare and S. laciniatum (T.R.S.N.Z. 82, 1954, 639-643) and of several forms of black nightshade in N.Z. (T.R.S.N.Z. 85, 1958).
