SOLANACEAE - Nightshade or Potato Family
Herbs, shrubs, trees, and vines
Leaves alternate and simple
Flowers bisexual, actinomorhic,
sepals and petals fused into tube, stamens sometimes porcidal
85 genera, 2800 species, cosmopolitan but most common in tropical
South America
Members of this family produce a wide range of toxic alkaloids,
including nicotine
Atropa belladonna - deadly nightshade
Datura - Jimsom weed
Nicotiana tabacum -
tobacco
Economic importance:
The potato has the most positive economic value of any member of
this family and its introduction in Europe was a key component to the
Industrial Revolution
Medicinal uses - members of the Solanaceae have been used for a
number of medicinal purposes, however, they produce an array of toxic
compounds and some are very poisonous
Diagnostic characteristics: simple, alternate leaves, flowers
5-merous and actinomorphic, sepals and petals fused into a tube
IMAGE GALLERY
FLOWERING
PLANT GATEWAY
