nightshade, common name for the Solanaceae, a family of herbs, shrubs, and a few trees of warm regions, chiefly tropical America. Many are climbing or creeping types, and rank-smelling foliage is typical of many species. The odor is due to the presence of various alkaloids (including
scopolamine scopolamine (skōpŏl`əmēn, –mĭn) or hyoscine
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nicotine nicotine, C10H14N2, poisonous, pale yellow, oily liquid alkaloid with a pungent odor and an acrid taste. It turns brown on exposure to air.
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atropine atropine (ăt`rəpēn, –pĭn)
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The chief drug plants of the family are belladonna belladonna (bĕlədŏn`ə) or deadly nightshade, poisonous perennial plant, Atropa belladona,
..... Click the link for more information. , or deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna), henbane henbane or black henbane, herb (Hyoscyamus niger) native to the Mediterranean region and naturalized in parts of North America. It belongs to the family Solanaceae ( nightshade family) and contains a narcotic poison (similar to that of
..... Click the link for more information. (Hyoscyamus niger), mandrake mandrake, plant of the family Solanaceae ( nightshade family), the source of a narcotic much used during the Middle Ages as a pain-killer and perhaps the subject of more superstition than any other plant.
..... Click the link for more information. (Mandragora officinum), Jimson weed Jimson weed or Jamestown weed, large, coarse annual plant (Datura stramonium) of the family Solanaceae ( nightshade family), native to warm-temperate and tropical regions of the New World, but long widely distributed and often weedy.
..... Click the link for more information. (Datura stramonium and other daturas in the tropics), Brunfelsia species, and tobacco tobacco, name for any plant of the genus Nicotiana of the Solanaceae family ( nightshade family) and for the product manufactured from the leaf and used in cigars and cigarettes , snuff , and pipe and chewing tobacco.
..... Click the link for more information. (Nicotiana tabacum). The Old World species figured prominently in herbals and in the magic potions of alchemy. The family also includes several important food plants, e.g., the potato potato or white potato, common name for a perennial plant (Solanum tuberosum) of the family Solanaceae ( nightshade family) and for its swollen underground stem, a tuber, which is one of the most widely used vegetables in Western
..... Click the link for more information. (Solanum tuberosum), the tomato tomato, plant (Lycopersicon esculentum) of the family Solanaceae ( nightshade family), related to the potato and eggplant. Although cultivated in Mexico and Peru for centuries before the European conquest, the tomato is one of the newest plants to be used on a
..... Click the link for more information. (Lycopersicon esculentum), the peppers Black pepper (Piper nigrum), the true pepper, is economically the most important species of the pantropical pepper family (Piperaceae). It is native to Java, whence it was introduced into other tropical countries.
..... Click the link for more information. (except black pepper, which is a Piperaceae), or pimientos (species of Capsicum), and the eggplant eggplant, name for Solanum melongena, a large-leaved woody perennial shrub (often grown as an annual herb) of the family Solanaceae ( nightshade family), and also cultivated for its ovoid fruit.
..... Click the link for more information. (Solanum melongena), the only one native to the Old World. Species of salpiglossis salpiglossis (săl'pəglŏs`əs), any plant of the genus Salpiglossis
..... Click the link for more information. , petunia petunia, any plant of the genus Petunia, South American herbs of the family Solanaceae ( nightshade family). The common garden petunias, planted also in window boxes, are all considered hybrids of white-flowered and violet-flowered species from Argentina.
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The name nightshade is commonly restricted to members of the Solanum, characterized by white or purplish star-shaped flowers and decorative usually orange berries; among the better known species are the bittersweet bittersweet, name for two unrelated plants, belonging to different families, both fall-fruiting woody vines sometimes cultivated for their decorative scarlet berries.
..... Click the link for more information. , or woody nightshade (S. dulcamara), the buffalo bur (S. rostratum), the horse, or bull, nettle (S. carolinense), the Jerusalem cherry (S. pseudocapsicum), and the black nightshade (S. niger). The buffalo bur, originally native to the Western plains, and the horse nettle, native to the Southeast, are straggly, prickly plants which are now naturalized over most of the United States and often become pests. The berries of the horse nettle (not a true nettle nettle, common name for the Urticaceae, a family of fibrous herbs, small shrubs, and trees found chiefly in the tropics and subtropics. Several genera of nettles are covered with small stinging hairs that on contact emit an irritant (formic acid) which produces a
..... Click the link for more information. botanically) have been used medicinally. Leaves of the buffalo bur served as food for the Colorado potato beetle before the advent of the cultivated potato in its vicinity. Both plants are sometimes called sandbur sandbur or bur grass, any species of the genus Cenchrus of the family Gramineae ( grass family), sandy-soil plants of tropical and temperate regions.
..... Click the link for more information. , properly the name for a prickly grass. The Jerusalem cherry, probably of Old World origin, is a house plant popular for its scarlet berries. The black nightshade was named for the dull black color of its berries, unusual for the genus; it is native to Europe but naturalized throughout the United States, where it is now one of the most common species of Solanum found growing wild. Because its leaves may be poisonous, it is sometimes called deadly nightshade, properly the name for the belladonna, which is not found wild in America. Nightshades are classified in the division Magnoliophyta Magnoliophyta (măg'nōlēŏf`ətə)
..... Click the link for more information. , class Magnoliopsida, order Polemoniales, family Solanaceae.
nightshade any of various solanaceous plants, such as deadly nightshade, woody nightshade, and black nightshade
nightshade
poisonous flower; symbol of falsehood. [Flower Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 176]