TAXONOMY: SOLANACEAE FAMILY

· This family is also called as potato family.

· There are about 90 genera and 2200 species.

· This family is distributed in tropical to temperate regions worldwide.

· Some are cultivated and others are wild.

Some Economically Important Members of Solanaceae are:
· Solanum tuberosum (Potato), an important vegetable
· S. melongena (Brinjal), an important vegetable
· S. nigrum (Black nightshade), an important medicinal plant of Jaundice and fever
· Lycopersicum esculentum (Tomato), an important vegetable
· Capsicum annum (Chilly), important spices
· Nicotiana tabacum (Tobacco), important for tobacco, and alkaloid
· Datura stramonium (Dhaturo), important medicinal plant and sedative

1. Habit/Habitat:

· Annual rarely perennial, herbs, rarely shrubs and soft trees (S. gigantium), some are climbers (S. dulcamera), mesophytic.

2. Root:

· Taproot, branched, sometimes adventitious

3. Stem:

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

4. Leaf:

· Exstipulate, petiolate or sub-sessile or sessile, alternate or opposite, cauline and Ramal, simple or compound, ovate, entire, acute, glabrous or hairy, unicostate and reticulate venation.

5. Inflorescence:

· Cymose, axillary cyme or terminal cyme

6. Flower:

· Commonly ebracteate, ebracteolate, pedicellate or subsessile, actinomorphic, rarely zygomorphic, complete, hermaphrodite, pentamerous, hypogynous, flower small, white, or pink in colour.

7. Calyx:

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

8. 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.

9. Androecium:

· Stamens – 5, polyandrous, sometimes stamen – 4 or 2 or staminode, epipetalous. 

10. Anther:

· Bilobed, introse, basifixed.

11. Gynoecium:

· Carpels – 2, bicarpellary, syncarpous.

· Ovary – superior, bilocular or tetramerous,

· Axile placentation,

· Many ovules in each locule.

· Stigma – lobed or capitate.

· Style – long and single

12. Fruit:

· Berry or capsule

13. Seed:

· Dicotyledonous, endospermic

Systemic Position:

Class: Dicotyledenae
 Subclass: Gamopetalous
  Series: Bicarpellate
   Order: Solanales
    Family: Solanaceae

Diagnostic Characters of Family Solanaceae are:
· 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.

Common plants of Family Solanaceae:
1. Solanum tuberosum - Potato
2. S. melongena – Brinjal or Egg plant.
3. S. nigrum – Black nightside.
4. Lycopersicum esculentum – Tomato
5. Nicotina tabacum – Tobacco
6. Cestrum nocturnum – Night jasmine or RAAT ki RANI
7. Capsicum annuum
8. Datura metel (Datura)
9. S. xanthocarpon
10. Atropa belladonna (Belladonna)
· Atropa belladonna contains an alkaloid Atropine (a medicine used for eye testing)
· Nicotiana tabacum yields – Nicotine

High Yielding Points from TAXONOMY

1. Shapes of corolla:
a. Cruciform: cross(x) like corolla eg. Cruciferae
b. Tubular: tube-like eg. sunflower
c. Papilionaceous: butterfly shape eg. legumes
d. Bilabiate: 2 lipped eg. libiatae
e. Personate (masked): bilabiate corolla with a narrow opening

2. Types of nomenclature:
a. Holotype: Specimen used by the author to confer scientific name to species
b. Isotype: Duplicate of holotype
c. Paratype: specimen cited with the original description other than holotype or isotype
d. Neotype: If the original specimen is lost it can be substituted by another specimen collected from the same locality
e. Lectotype: Specimen selected from the original material selected to serve as nomenclature type [@ HIPaNL]

3. Famous book ‘Species Plantarum’ was written by Carolus Linnaeus but ‘Genera Plantarum by Batham and Hooker

4. In the artificial system of classification, one or two characters are considered given by Carolus Linnaeus

5. In the natural system of classification, a large no. of traits are considered, given by Bantham and Hooker

6. Phylogenetic system of classification was given by A. Engler, Karl A. Prant and John Hutchinson.

Also, Read Notes of other Lessons of Botany:

• Solanaceae Family
• Cruciferae Family
• Compositae Family
• Malvaceae Family
• Leguminosae Family
• Graminae Family
• Liliaceae & Labiatae Family
• Some Important Medicinal Plants