| Classification |
| Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order Type: Eudicots-Asterids I
Order: Solanales
Family: Solanaceae
Family Common Name: Potato Family
Genera: Browallia, Brugmansia, Capsicum, Datura, Nicotiana,
Nierembergia, Petunia, Solanum |
Defining Features: Often
have branched hairs or prickles. Internal phloem is around pith. This family
covers 7 subfamilies.
Defining Morphology: Floral
Features: Flowers are often bisexual and usually actinomorphic. Inflorescences
are determinate in an axillary cyme or reduced to a solitary flower. Calyx
is persistent, partly fused and even enlarged in the fruit. Stamens alternate
with lobes of corolla and anthers connivent. Ovaries are superior with
axile placentation. Fruit and Seed Features: Dicotyledon. Fruit is indehiscent
berry or drupe, less common as a capsule. Seeds have oily endosperm, usually
proteinaceous with linear straight to curved embryo. Vegetative Features:
Habit as herbs, shrubs, trees or lianas. Leaves have entire or variously
dissected margins. Leaves are alternate, simple or pinnately compound and
spirally arranged. Stipules are absent.
Distribution: Cosmopolitan
with centers in Australia, along with Central and South America.
Economic Use: As source of
tobacco, food plants and cultivated garden and indoor ornamentals. Some
species are highly poisonous due to the presence of steroid alkaloids.
Alkaloids from some species are being used in medicine.
Number of Genera Globally:
147
Number of Species Globally: 2,930
