1. Solanaceae is a family of flowering plants known as the nightshade family, containing over 2,500 species including important food crops like the potato, tomato, and peppers.
2. Members are found worldwide but are most abundant in the tropical regions of Latin America. They include herbs, shrubs, trees, and climbing plants. Many species contain poisonous alkaloids.
3. Economically important members are used as food (potato, tomato, peppers), medicine (belladonna, henbane), and narcotics (tobacco). Ornamental genera include petunia and datura.
1. B.Sc. II Year
“ANGIOSPERMS SYSTEMATIC, ANATOMY AND EMBRYOLOGY”
Unit – III
‘Angiosperms Systematic’
Family- Solanaceae
DR. SWATI V. PUNDKAR
Assistant Professor
Department of Botany
Shri Shivaji Science College, Amravati
NAAC Accredited ‘A’ Grade
4. Solanaceae, the nightshade, or potato, family of flowering
plants (order Solanales), with 102 genera and nearly
2,500 species, many of considerable economic importance as
food and drug plants. Among the most important of those
are potato (Solanum tuberosum); eggplant (S.
melongena); tomato (S.
lycopersicum); peppers (various Capsicum species); tobacco (Ni
cotiana tabacum and N. rustica); belladonna (Atropa
belladonna); the poisonous jimsonweed (Datura stramonium)
and nightshades (S. nigrum, S. dulcamara, and others); and
many garden ornamentals, such as the
genera Browallia, Brugmansia, Brunfelsia, Cestrum, Datura, L
ycium, Nicotiana, Nierembergia, Petunia, Salpiglossis, Schizan
thus, Solandra, Solanum, and Streptosolen.
5. Members of the Solanaceae family are found throughout the
world but are most abundant and widely distributed in the
tropical regions of Latin America, where about
40 genera are endemic. Very few members are found in
temperate regions, and only about 50 species are found in
the United States and Canada combined.
The genus Solanum contains almost half of all the species in the
family, including all the species of wild potatoes found in
the Western Hemisphere. The poisonous alkaloids present in
some species of the family have given the latter its
sombre vernacular name of “nightshade.”
8. Primitive characters:
1. Shrubs, trees and perennial
climbers.
2. Leaves simple and alternate.
3. Inflorescence solitary axillary or
terminal.
4. Flowers actinomorphic,
hermaphrodite and hypogynous.
5. Pollination by insects.
6. Ovules numerous in each
loculus.
7. Stamens dithecous.
8. Seeds endospermic.
Advanced characters:
1. Most of the plants are
herbaceous and many are annuals.
2. Leaves exstipulate, in some
finely divided.
3. Calyx and corolla are
gamosepalous and gamopetalous.
4. Stamens epipetalous.
5. Reduction in the number of
carpels to two.
6. Gynoecium is syncarpous.
7. Fruit is simple.
9. Habit:
The species belonging to this family are either erect or climbing herbs, shrubs or small
trees. Solanum nigrum is a small annual herb; species of Datura are large annual
herbs. Cestrum nocturnum is a shrub.
Root:
Tap or adventitious.
Stem:
Herbaceous or woody, erect or twining or creeping; sometimes modified into tubers
(Potato).
10. Leaves:
Alternate or becoming opposite at or near the inflorescences, rarely
whorled, exstipulate, entire, simple, rarely dissected or pinnate.
13. Calyx:
5 sepals, gamosepalous (limb usually 5-lobed or-toothed), persistent and often much
enlarged in fruit.
Corolla:
5 petals, gamopetalous, funnel shaped, rotate to tubular, corolla of various shapes but
rarely 2-lipped, usually plicate or convolute (rarely valvate).
14. Androecium:
5 stamens, sometimes 4 and didynamous or not so, or only 2, e.g., Schizanthus; when the
stamens are less than five the lost stamen is usually represented by a reduced
(staminode). Stamens epipetalous and alternate, the petals, usually not equal in size.
Anthers are 2-celled (dithecous), introrse, dehiscence by longitudinal slit or by apical
pore, e.g., in Solarium, the connective sometimes enlarged, usually hypogynous disc
present which is quite apparent.
15. Gynoecium:
2 carpels (bicarpellary), syncarpous, ovary superior, bilocular (sometimes
becomes tetralocular due to false septation), rarely 3-5 celled ovary,
placentation axile, ovules usually many on prominently peltate placentas,
anatropous or somewhat amphitropous. The carpels placed obliquely in
the flowers. Single style, stigma bi-lobed and capitate.
16. Fruit:
A berry or septicidal capsule.
Seed:
Albuminous (endospermic) smooth or pitted, curved embryo embedded in the
endosperm.
17.
18.
19. Economic Uses: - 1.Food-This family contains many species of great
economic importance. These include potato (Solanum tuberosum),
tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum), and the peppers (various
Capsicum spp.). - Many members are also cultivated for their alkaloid
content. The most important example is tobacco (Nicotiana
tabacum). - Various members of this family are also grown as
ornamentals.
2. Medicinal:
Atropa belladona contains alkaloid Atropine; this is used in Belladona
plaster. Atropine is used in eye testing. Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco)
yields Nicotine. Hyoscyamus niger, Solanum nigrum, Datura (H.
Dhatura), Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha) are used medicinally.
20. 3. Narcotics:
Tobacco is obtained from leaves of Nicotiana tabacum and variously
used in cigars, bidi, chewing, jarda etc.
4. Ornamentals:
Petunia, Cestrum, Lycium, Salpiglossis, Schizanthus are cultivated in
gardens for ornamentals.
