Solanum is a genus of herbaceous , shrubby, or climbing plants. The type genus of the family Solanaceae. It contains edible and cultivated species, among others potato, tomato and eggplant.
Summary
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- 1 Description
- 2 Taxonomy
- 3 Etymology
- 4 Economic and cultural importance
- 5 Sources
Description
Plants or shrubs, sometimes climbing, usually hairy. The leaves are alternate or opposite, simple or pinnate. The flowers gather in axillary inflorescences, extra ?? axillary or opposite the leaves, and are made up of one or more helical tops, usually scorpio, sometimes umbeliform, rarely solitary. The calyx is campanular and pentalobed. The corolla, rotataceous, has a limb from orbicular or pentagonal to stellate, usually with recurved lobes. The stamens are free, inserted in the throat of the corolla tube, with conniving anthers in an ovoid or cylindrical to conical column; they open through two terminal pores. The stigma is capitated. The fruit is a succulent berry, with small, ovoid and compressed seeds.
Taxonomy
The genus has been created by Joseph Pitton de Tournefort and published in Institutiones Rei Herbariae …, Editio tertia […] Tomus primus, Class II, Sectio VII, Genus I, p. 148, Tomus II, tab. 62, 1719; it was validated, more than 30 years later, by Carlos Linneo and published in Species Plantarum, vol. 1 p. 184, 1753 and its extended description in Genera Plantarum, nº 224, p. 85, 1754.
Etymology
Solanum: Latin word equivalent to the Greek στρύχνος (strychnos) to designate the Solanum nigrum (the “Blackberry Grass”) —and probably other species of the genus, including the eggplant—, already used by Pliny the Elder in his Historia naturalis (21, 177 and 27, 132) and, earlier, by Aulus Cornelius Celsus in De Re Medica (II, 33). It could be related to the Latin sun. -is, “the sun”, because the plant would be typical of somewhat sunny places.
With a number of some 1250-1700 valid species registered (almost 6,500 adding the synonyms, nomen nudum, etc …). Solanum is the richest species genus in the Solanaceae family and one of the largest of the Angiosperms. Phylogenetic analyzes on molecular data have established or confirmed that the genera Lycopersicon, Cyphomandra, Normania, and Triguera, previously considered independent, should in fact be included within Solanum. In fact, all the species in these 4 genera have been formally transferred to Solanum.
By contrast, the Lycianthes genus, sometimes considered within Solanum, has been shown to be a separate genus.
Within the Solanaceae family, Solanum is included in the Solanoideae subfamily, characterized by its flat seeds and curved embryos. Within this subfamily, Solanum is found in the taxonomically complex Solaneae tribe, a large group of approximately 34 genera, whose phylogenetic relationships are not yet fully clarified.
Economic and cultural importance
Many species of the genus have tubers and constitute the most economically important group. Most of these species are indispensable for future potato breeding programs because they are resistant to low temperatures, insects, viruses, and fungi; half of the potato varieties grown in some countries in Europe contain germplasm from the Mexican wild potato Solanum demissum. Solanum is a genus of global economic importance since it includes important crops such as potatoes or potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) and aubergine (Solanum melongena).
There are also several species cultivated on a smaller scale for their edible fruits, tubers or leaves and also as a source of valuable medicinal alkaloids. Some examples of species less known and cultivated for their edible fruits are the “tree tomato” (Solanum betaceum), the “naranjilla” (Solanum quitoense) and the “cucumber” (Solanum muricatum), native to the New World, and Solanum aethiopicum and Solanum macrocarpon from the Old World.
