The Solanaceae, or the nightshades, are a family of flowering plants that ranges from annual and perennial herbs to vines, lianas, epiphytes, shrubs, and trees, and includes a number of agricultural crops, medicinal plants, spices, weeds, and ornamentals. Many members of the family contain potent alkaloids, and some are highly toxic, but many—including tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, bell and chili peppers—are used as food. The family belongs to the order Solanales, 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.
Solanaceae
Fruits including tomatoes, tomatillos, eggplant, bell peppers and chili peppers, all of which are closely related members of the Solanaceae.
Cestrum elegans, ( subfamily : Cestroideae ), a shrub used as an ornamental.
Browallia americana
Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including defense and protection against insects, fungi, diseases, and herbivorous mammals.
The bark of willow trees contains salicylic acid, the active metabolite of aspirin, and has been used for millennia to relieve pain and reduce fever.
Dioscorides's 1st century De materia medica, seen here in a c. 1334 copy in Arabic, describes some 1000 drug recipes based on over 600 plants.
The Ebers Papyrus (c. 1550 BC) from Ancient Egypt describes the use of hundreds of plant medicines.
Illustration of a 1632 copy of Avicenna's 1025 The Canon of Medicine, showing a physician talking to a female patient in a garden, while servants prepare medicines.
