SOLANACEAE
The Nightshade Family
By Syreeta Shigematsu
SOLANACEAE FAMILY
• Total: ≈ 110 genera & 2,600 species
• Native to North America
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≈ 40 genera & 300 species [USDA]
Solanum (nearly ½ of all Solanaceae species)
plants of significant economic importance
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Potato
Tomato
Peppers
tobacco
• Growth: annual or perennial
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Stems: stellate (radiating pattern) or branched pubescence;
many with prickles
Leaves: simple or compound, alternate, exstipulate (stipules are
inconspicuous or entirely absent)
Flowers: bisexual and actinomorphic (radial symmetry); solitary or
clustered, corolla is sympetalous (petals united), sepals
and petals usually 5 and 5, flowers often conspicuous and showy,
insect pollination
Fruit: often a berry or capsule
Inflorescence: cymose (A type of flowering shoot in which the firstformed flower develops from the growing region at the top of the
flower stalk)
INTERESTING FACTS
 AKA: Potato Family or Deadly Nightshade Family
 rich in potent psychoactive alkaloids
( = naturally occurring organic compounds that contain mostly basic nitrogen atoms; produced by a large
number of organisms; many medicinal purposes)
 Tropane Alkaloids – 6 groups
 nicotine
[stimulant/addictive, leaves of tobacco plant, i.e. insecticide, cigarettes]
 solanine
[poisonous toxin, genus Solanum, i.e. green potato, tomato, eggplant]
 capsaicin [irritant; active component of chili peppers, genus Capsicum, i.e. topical cream]
 atropine
[Involuntary nervous system blocker, genus Atropa, i.e. injection, used to treat nerve gas
attacks]
 scopolamine [AKA: hyoscine, medication, i.e. treat motion sickness, nausea & vomiting]
 hyoscyamine [medication, i.e. treat variety of stomach/intestinal problems]
 Model Organisms
DEADLY NIGHTSHADE
ATROPA BELLADONNA
Woody Nightshade
 Perennial vine or sprawling shrub, lower
stems woody
 2-4ft tall
 found across Europe, Asia, and North
America
 thriving in damp, shady spots
 toxic chemical: atropine
 unripe berries, leaves, stems
 2-4 child, 10-20 adult can cause death
 flowers: star-shaped, purple, backwardpointing petals and stamens fused in a
prominent yellow cone (June-Sept
bloom)
 leaves: dark-green to purplish and often
with one or two small ear-like lobes near
the base, leaf blades are 1 to 4 inches
long
 crushed leaves and bark have an
unpleasant smell
 difficult to cultivate
Common, or Black, Nightshade
JIMSON WEED
DATURA STRAMONIUM
 AKA: Thorn Apple, Devil’s Trumpet,
Stinkweed, etc.
 annual herb, bush
 native: most likely Central & South America
(tropical & warm temperate)
 3-5ft tall
 thrives in disturbed areas, riverbanks,
roadsides, rich soils
 toxic chemical: atropine
 flowers: fragrant flowers are trumpetshaped, bloom late summer-1st frost
 leaves: ovate with green or purplish
coloration, coarsely serrated along edges,
≈ 3 to 8 inches long
 seeds: contained in a hard, spiny capsule,
about 2 inches in diameter, which splits
lengthwise into four parts when ripe
 major weed in soybeans worldwide
 aggressive, poisonous weed
• noxious weed in South Africa
Devil’s Trumpet
MANDRAKE
MANDRAGORA OFFICINARUM
 herbaceous, perennial plants
 native: Mediterranean region & the
Himalayas
 roots: sometimes contain
bifurcations (long history of use in religious
& superstitious practices), most toxic*
 stem & leaves: short stem bearing a tuft of
ovate leaves, often arranged in a basal
rosette at ground surface, leaves 6-16 in
 flowers: solitary with a bell-shaped corolla
of five petals
 fruit: fleshy orange-colored berry
Title Slide [IMAGE]
1. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Many-economically-important-plants-belong-to-theSolanaceae-family-counterclockwise_fig2_50225844
Slide 2 Solanaceae Family [IMAGE + info.]
1. https://www.tutorvista.com/content/biology/biology-iii/angiosperm-families/family-solanaceae.php
2. http://southwestdesertflora.com/WebsiteFolders/Family_Species/Solanaceae_Species.html
3. https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/cymoseinflorescence
Slide 3 Interesting Facts
1. Wikipedia: Alkaloids, Tropane Alkaloids
2. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/atropine-is-the-simplest-treatment-for-nerve-gas-attacksand-syria-is-running-low-1835678/
Slide 4 Deadly Nightshade [IMAGES]
1. http://www.dpic.org/faq/nightshade-plant-includes-woody-black-or-common-types
2. https://allthatsinteresting.com/deadly-nightshade
3. https://www.kingcounty.gov/services/environment/animals-and-plants/noxious-weeds/weedidentification/bittersweet-nightshade.aspx
Slide 5 Jimson Weed [IMAGES]
1. https://www.donaldheald.com/pages/books/16359/basil-besler/jimson-weed-or-thorn-apple-daturaturcarum-germander-polium-foliis-facie-lavendulae-purple
2. https://www.ebay.com/p/Jimson-Weed-Devils-Trumpet-50-Seeds-Datura-Stramonium-CombSHD51/1453003017
3.https://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/eafrinet/weeds/key/weeds/Media/Html/Datura_stramonium_(Commo
n_Thorn_Apple).htm
4.https://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/eafrinet/weeds/key/weeds/Media/Html/Datura_stramonium_(Commo
n_Thorn_Apple).htm
5. http://poisonousplants.ansci.cornell.edu/jimsonweed/jimsonweed.html
Slide 6
https://www.britannica.com/plant/mandrake-Mandragora-genus
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Mandrake_(plant)
Slide 7 [IMAGE]
1. https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants/petunia
REFERENCES