Climbing Nightshade. White Malabar Spinach. Baselle blanche. Vil. Basella alba.

From the East Indies. Though a biennial plant, in cultivation it is generally treated as an annual. Stem five feet and upwards in length, slender, climbing; leaves alternate, oval, entire on the borders, green and fleshy; flowers in clusters, small, greenish; seeds round, with portions of the pulp usually adhering,--eleven to twelve hundred weighing an ounce. They retain their vitality three years.

LARGE-LEAVED CHINESE MALABAR NIGHTSHADE.

Large-leaved Malabar Spinach. Baselle à Très Large Feuille de Chine. Vil. Basella cordifolia.

A Chinese species, more vigorous and much stronger in its general habit than the Red or the White. Leaves as large as those of Lettuce,--green, round, very thick, and fleshy; flowers small, greenish; seeds round, nearly of the same form and color as those of the White variety, but rather larger.

The species is slow in developing its flower-stem, and the best for cultivation.

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