The fruits in the garlands were originally identified with the woody nightshade (Solanum dulcamara), but this species is not found in Egypt, although it is widespread in Europe. They now are said to belong to the Egyptian withania nightshade, which also has yellow-orange fruits enclosed in an inflated calyx. I have not been able to confirm this identification, which I find surprising, since a very common nightshade, Solanum villosum, has similar but more conspicuous fruits.
Withania is a perennial or undershrub about 40 cm (16 in) high, with hairy stems and rather large ovate leaves. The heads of flowers occur in the leaf axils, each small flower having five reflexed greenish petal lobes. The berries develop into round yellow-orange fruits, about the size of garden peas, enclosed in the inflated calyx.
It occurs in waste places in North and tropical Africa, and across Asia. Professor Newberry observed that only berries of this plant (which he called woody nightshade) have been found in Egyptian tombs and that they are always threaded on to thin strips of the leaves of date palm. It was obviously a very persistent practice, as it was still being done over a thousand years later in the GraecoRoman period, and it was mentioned by Pliny as being used by the Egyptian garland-makers. The fruits of withania are well known in tropical Africa, where their alkaloidal properties are used in a variety of medicines.
Withania nightshade Withania somnifera.
World History
