Solanaceae - General Description in Semi-Technical Terms

This family is also called as potato family. There are about 90 genera and 2200 species. This family is distributed in tropical to temperate region world wide. Some are cultivated and others are wild. Some economically important members are :

• Solanum tuberosum (potato), important vegetable
• S. melongena (Brinjal), important vegetable
• S. nigrum (Black night shade), important medicinal plant of Jaundice and fever
• Lycopersicum esculentum (tomato), important vegetable
• Capsicum annum (chilly), important spices
• Nicotiana tobacum (tobacco), important for tobacco, and alkaloid
• Datura stramonium (Dhaturo), important medicinal plant and sedative

Habit/Habitat: Annual rarely penennial, herbs, rarely shrubs and soft trees (S gigantium), some are climbers (S. dulcamera), mesophytic.

Root: Tap root, branched, sometimes adventitious

Stem: Erect, rarely prostrate or climbers, branched, herbaceous or woody, solid or fistular, cylindrical, glabrous or spinous, green, sometimes underground (S. tuberosum)

Leaf: Exstipulate, petiolate or sub-sessile or sessile, alternate or opposite, cauline and ramalo, simple ro compound, ovate, entire, acute, glabrous or hairy, unicostate and reticulate venation.

Inflorescence: Cymose, axillary cyme or terminal cyme

Flower: commonly ebracteate, ebractiolate, pedicellate or subsessile, actinomorphic, rarely zygomorphic, complete, hermaphrodite, pentaerous, hypogynous, flower small, white, or pink in colour.

Calyx: Sepals-5, gamosepalous, sepaloid, toothed or lobed, campanulate, hairy or glabrous, valvate aestivation.

Corolla: Petals – 5, gamopetalous, petaloid, campanulate or funnel shaped, sometimes tubular or rotate, valvate aestivation or twisted or imbricate, pink or white or purple in colour.

Androecium: Stamens – 5, polyandrous, sometimes stamen – 4 or 2 or staminode, epipetalous. Anther – bilobed, introse, basifixed.

Gynoecium: Carpel;s – 2, bicarpellary, syncarpous. Ovary – superior, bilocular or tetramerous, axile placentation, many ovules in each locule. Stigma – lobed or capitate. Style – long and single

Fruit: Berry or capsule

Seed: Dicotyledonous, endospermic

Floral formula:

Floral Diagram:

Systemic position :
Class : Dicotyledenae
——Subclass : Gamopetalous
———-Series : Bicarpellate
—————-Order : Polymonials
———————-Family : Somalanceae

Diagnostic characters:
Leaves alternate, simple or compound, inflorescence cymose, flowers pentamerous, actinomorphic, hypogynous, sepals – 5, gamosepalous, petals – 5, gamopetalous, Stamens – 5, polyandrous, epipetalous, Carpels – 2, syncarpous, axile placentation, Fruit berry or capsule.