nightshade family

English - English

Definition of nightshade family in English English dictionary: A family of plants, the Solanaceae, characterized by alternate leaves, usually five-petaled flowers, and many-seeded fruits and including the eggplant, tomato, potato, and belladonna as well as the nightshades, capsicum peppers, tobaccos, and petunias. Family Solanaceae, composed of at least 2,400 species of flowering plants in about 95 genera. Though found worldwide, the nightshades are most abundant in tropical Latin America. Many are economically important as food or medicinal plants. Among the most important are the potato, eggplant, tomato, garden pepper, tobacco, and many garden ornamentals, including the petunia. The medicinally significant nightshades are potent sources of such alkaloids as nicotine, atropine, and scopolamine; they include deadly nightshade (belladonna), jimsonweed (Datura stramonium), henbane, and mandrake. The genus Solanum contains almost half the species in the family. The species usually called nightshade in North America and England is S. dulcamara, also called bittersweet and woody nightshade

nightshade family