S. Dulcamàra, L. (Bittersweet.) More or less pubescent; leaves ovate-heart-shaped, the upper halberd-shaped, or with two ear-like lobes or leaflets at base; flowers (purple or blue) in small cymes; berries oval, red.—Moist banks and around dwellings. June–Sept. (Nat. from Eu.)
1. S. triflòrum, Nutt. Low, spreading, slightly hairy or nearly glabrous; leaves oblong, pinnatifid (7–9-lobed) with rounded sinuses; peduncles 1–3-flowered; corolla white; berries green, as large as a small cherry.—Central Kan., and westward; chiefly a weed near dwellings.
2. S. nìgrum, L. (Common Nightshade.) Low, much branched and often spreading, nearly glabrous, rough on the angles; leaves ovate, wavy-toothed; flowers white, in small umbel-like lateral clusters, drooping; calyx spreading; filaments hairy; berries globular, black.—Shaded grounds and fields; common, appearing as if introduced, but a cosmopolite. July–Sept.
Var. villòsum, Mill. Low, somewhat viscid-pubescent or villous; leaves small, conspicuously angular-dentate; filaments glabrous; berries yellow.—Established near Philadelphia, from ballast. (Adv. from Eu.)
S. grácile, Link. Cinereous-pubescent or puberulent, rather tall (2–3° high), with virgate spreading branches; leaves ovate and ovate-lanceolate, nearly entire; corolla white or bluish; calyx somewhat appressed to the black berry.—Coast of N. C., and about ballast near Philadelphia. (Adv. from S. Am.)
[*][*] More or less prickly; anthers tapering upward; pubescence stellate.
[+] Perennial; fruit naked; anthers equal; corolla violet, rarely white.
3. S. Carolinénse, L. (Horse-Nettle.) Hirsute or roughish-pubescent with 4–8-rayed hairs; prickles stout, yellowish, copious (rarely scanty); leaves oblong or ovate, obtusely sinuate-toothed or lobed or sinuate-pinnatifid, racemes simple, soon lateral; calyx-lobes acuminate; berries about 6´´ broad.—Sandy soil and waste grounds, Conn. to Iowa, south to Fla. and Tex.
4. S. elæagnifòlium, Cav. Silvery-canescent with dense scurf-like pubescence of many-rayed hairs; prickles small, slender, more or less copious or wanting; leaves lanceolate to oblong and linear, sinuate-repand or entire; calyx-lobes slender; berry seldom 6´´ in diameter.—Prairies and plains. E. Kan. to Tex., and westward.