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*AKA “THE NIGHT SHADES”*
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-the solanaceae are an economically important family of ‘flowering plants’-
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(the family ranges from annual/perennial herbs to vines, lianas, epiphytes, shrubs, and trees, and includes a number of important agricultural crops, medicinal plants, spices, weeds, and ‘ornamentals’)
(many members of the family contain potent alkaloids, and some are highly toxic, but many cultures eat nightshades, in some cases as ‘staple foods’)
(the family belongs to the order ‘solanale’s, in the ‘asterid’ group and class ‘magnoliopsida’ (‘dicotyledons’))
(the ‘solanaceae’ consists of about 98 genera and some 2,700 species, with a great diversity of ‘habitats’, ‘morphology’, and ‘ecology’)
(the name ‘solanaceae’ derives from the genus solanum, “the nightshade plant”)
(the etymology of the latin word is unclear)
(the name may come from a perceived resemblance of certain solanaceous flowers to the sun and its rays)
(at least one species of solanum is known as the “sunberry”)
(alternatively, the name could originate from the Latin verb solari, meaning “to soothe”, presumably referring to the soothing pharmacological properties of some of the psychoactive species of the family)
(the family has a worldwide distribution, being present on all continents except ‘antarctica’)
(the greatest diversity in species is found in ‘South America’ and ‘Central America’)
(the ‘solanaceae’ include a number of commonly collected or cultivated species)
(the most economically important genus of the family is Solanum, which contains the potato (S. tuberosum, in fact, another common name of the family is the “potato family”), the tomato (S. lycopersicum), and the eggplant or aubergine (S. melongena))
(another important genus, Capsicum, produces both chili peppers and ‘bell peppers’)
(the genus Physalis produces the so-called groundcherries, as well as the tomatillo (Physalis philadelphica), the Cape gooseberry and the ‘chinese lantern’)
(the genus lycium contains the boxthorns and the wolfberry ‘lycium barbarum’)
(‘nicotiana’ contains, among other species, ‘tobacco’)
(some other important members of ‘solanaceae’ include a number of ornamental plants such as Petunia, Browallia, and Lycianthes, and sources of psychoactive alkaloids, Datura, Mandragora (mandrake), and Atropa belladonna (“deadly nightshade”))
(certain species are widely known for their medicinal uses, their psychotropic effects, or for being poisonous)
(most of the economically important genera are contained in the subfamily Solanoideae, with the exceptions of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum, Nicotianoideae) and petunia (Petunia × hybrida, Petunioideae))
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(many of the ‘solanaceae’ (such as ‘tobacco’ + ‘petunia’) are used as ‘model organisms’ in the investigation of fundamental biological questions at the [‘cellular’ / ‘molecular’ / ‘genetic’] levels)
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*👨🔬🕵️♀️🙇♀️*SKETCHES*🙇♂️👩🔬🕵️♂️*
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💕💝💖💓🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤❤️💚💛🧡❣️💞💔💘❣️🧡💛💚❤️🖤💜🖤💙🖤💙🖤💗💖💝💘
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*🌈✨ *TABLE OF CONTENTS* ✨🌷*
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🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥*we won the war* 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥