Family: Solanaceae (Night Shade Family)
Lecture of: Sir Muhammad Ajaib
Department of Botany
G C University Lahore
Provided by: Taha Arooj
This Family is commonly called “bringal Family”. It includes about 84 genera and 3000 species. This Family is represented in Pakistan by 14 genera and 52 species out of which 27 species are native, 6 naturalized and other cultivated or found as escapes.
Distribution: Members have a cosmopolitan distribution bud widely distributed in tropical and temperate regions of both the hemispheres.
Vegetative Characters:
Habit: Mostly annual herbs (Solanum nigrum L.), undershrubs (Solanum melongena L.), Some are shrubs (Datura innoxia Miller), rarely trees.
Root: Taproot, branched.
Stem: Herbaceous or woody, branched often with prickles.
Leaves: Simple, Alternate, exstipulate entire or lobed.
Inflorescence: Solitary or in racemes, spikes or panicles, cymes or corymes.
Flower: Showy, Ebracteate, actinomorphic, bisexual (unisexual in withania), regular, pedicellate, hypogynous, pentamarous.
Calyx: Sepals5, gamosepalous, persistent,(in the fruit condition also), valvate aestivation, campanulate.
Corolla: Petals 5, Gamopetalous, rotate or campanulate or infundibuliform (Datura); twisted or valvate aestivation.
Androecium: Stamens 5, epipetalous, alternating with corolla lobes sometimes didynamous or unequal, attached to the base of corolla tube; anthers usually adnate and cone like.
Gynoecium: Ovary superior, oblique, bicarpillary, syncarpous, bilocular or tetralocular due to pseudoseptum, placentation axile.
Fruit: A many seeded capsule or berry.
Seed: Endospermic.
Common Examples:
Edible
- Solanum tuberosum L. (Potato)
- Solanum melongena L. Brinjal
- Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. Tomato
Medicinal
- Atropa belladonna L. used for making belladonna plasters. Atropine a powerful alkaloid is extracted and used medicinally.
- Hyoscyamus niger L. Henbane used as sedative.
- Datura innoxia Miller. Used as sedative and intoxicant. Daturine a powerful alkaloid is extracted from fruit of Datura.
Ornamental
- Cestrum nocturnum L. Night queen or night jasmine.
- Petunia Juss.
Others
1. Nicotiana tobaccum L. cured leaves used as tobacco, contains nicotine.
