Solanaceae
Sign in to saveSolanaceae (), commonly known as the nightshades, is a family of flowering plants in the order Solanales. The family contains approximately 2,700 species, several of which are used as agricultural crops, medicinal plants, and ornamental plants. Many members of the family have high alkaloid contents, making some highly toxic, but many—such as tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, and peppers—are commonly used in food.
AI overview
The Solanaceae family, commonly called nightshades, is a large group of flowering plants containing about 2,700 species, many of which contain alkaloid compounds that can be toxic. Despite this, the family includes some of the world's most important food crops—like tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and eggplants—as well as plants used in medicine and ornamental gardening.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Taxonomy · GBIF
FAMILY
- KingdomPlantae
- PhylumTracheophyta
- ClassMagnoliopsida
- OrderSolanales
- FamilySolanaceae
via GBIF · CC0
Article
22 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Description
- Diversity of characteristics
- Taxonomy
- Evolution
- Origin
- Dispersion and diversification
- Phylogeny
- Distribution and habitat
- Ecology
- Alkaloids
- Solanine
- Tropanes
- Nicotine
- Capsaicin
- Economic importance
- Genomics
- Notes
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- External links
Solanaceae (), commonly known as the nightshades, is a family of flowering plants in the order Solanales. The family contains approximately 2,700 species, several of which are used as agricultural crops, medicinal plants, and ornamental plants. Many members of the family have high alkaloid contents, making some highly toxic, but many—such as tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, and peppers—are commonly used in food.
Originating in South America, Solanaceae now inhabit every continent on Earth except Antarctica. After the K–Pg extinction event they rapidly diversified and have adapted to live in deserts, tundras, rainforests, plains, and highlands, and taken on wide range of forms including trees, vines, shrubs, and epiphytes. Nearly 80% of all nightshades are included in the subfamily Solanoideae, most of which are members of the type genus Solanum. Most taxonomists recognize six other subfamilies: Cestroideae, Goetzeoideae, Nicotianoideae, Petunioideae, Schizanthoideae, and Schwenkioideae, although nightshade taxonomy is still controversial. The genus Duckeodendron is sometimes placed in its own subfamily, Duckeodendroideae.