An immense genus, abundant in all tropical countries and especially so in tropical America, rarer in temperate regions. Species probably over 800.
| Herbaceous, 1–3 ft. high. Leaves ovate. Flowers small, ¼–⅓ in. diam. | 1. S. nigrum. |
| Shrubby, 4–8 ft. high. Leaves lanceolate, often pinnatifid. Flowers large, ¾ in. diam. | 2. S. aviculare. |
S. sodomæum, Linn., a spinous species with stellate pubescence, pinnatifid leaves, and rather large globose yellow berries, has become naturalised in many localities between the North Cape and Tauranga. So also has S. auriculatum, Ait., an unarmed densely woolly species with large leaves furnished with a pair of roundish auricles near the base of the petioles. The common potato (S. tuberosum, Linn.) often lingers for a time in places where it has been cultivated.
1. S. nigrum, Linn. Sp. Plant. 186.—Erect, herbaceous from a somewhat woody base, glabrous or pubescent, 1–3 ft. high; branches spreading, angular, the angles sometimes minutely tuberculate. Leaves on slender petioles; blade 1½–3 in. long, ovate or ovate-rhomboid, acute or acuminate, narrowed into the petiole, entire or coarsely and irregularly toothed, membranous. Flowers small, white, drooping, ⅓ in. diam., in small umbellate 5–8-flowered cymes; peduncles slender, supra-axillary. Calyx 5-lobed to the middle. Corolla deeply 5-lobed. Berry ¼–⅓ in. diam., globose, black or red. Raoul, Choix, 43; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 182; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 200; Benth. Fl. Austral. iv. 446.
Kermadec Islands, North and South Islands, Chatham Islands: Not uncommon as far south as central Otago. Sea-level to 2000 ft. A common weed in almost all parts of the world.
2. S. aviculare, Forst. Prodr. n. 107.—A leafy unarmed softwooded bush or shrub 4–8 ft. high, perfectly glabrous in all its parts; branches spreading, smooth or marked with raised lines decurrent from the petioles. Leaves alternate, petiolate, very variable in size and shape, 4–12 in. long or even more, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate and entire, or irregularly pinnatifidly lobed with 1–3 spreading lanceolate acute lobes on each side, membranous, glabrous, main veins spreading at right angles. Cymes 1–3 in the axils of the upper leaves or lateral, shorter than the leaves, few- or many-flowered. Flowers ¾–1 in. diam., purplish or white. Calyx-lobes short, broad, obtuse. Corolla shortly and broadly 5-lobed. Filaments as long as or longer than the anthers; anthers oblong, spreading, opening at the tips by transverse slits which are usually continued down the sides. Berry broadly ovoid, ¾–1 in. long, drooping, yellowish.—A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. i. 193; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 182; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 200; Benth. Fl. Austral. iv. 447. S. laciniatum, Ait. Hort. Kew, ed. 1, 247; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 386; Raoul, Choix, 43.
