Family | Solanaceae

_________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________ 

Gardening | Plant ID

The nightshades

The nightshades, are an economically important family of flowering plants. The family ranges from annual and perennial herbs, 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.

Silver-leaved nightshade, white horsenettle, Solanum eleagnaefolium

While walking along our local trail, I photographed several endemic natives and a few non-native plants that make-up a restored blackland prairie ecosystem. You can observe birds fly into grassy areas and insects pollinating flowers. The etymology of the word "prairie," is French from Latin and the English equivalent is meadow. A meadow or prairie is populated with grasses and shrubby plants.The Texas Blackland Prairies are named after the dark, rich soil.This grassland ecoregion is found running about 300 miles from the Red River in North Texas south to San Antonio.

Silver-leaved nightshade, white horsenettle, (Solanum eleagnaefolium) fruit

Datura                                                                                  

Datura

 Datura
Seed Pod

Brugmansia                                                                             

Angel Trumpet (Brugmansia)

Many members of the Solanum family—including tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, bell and chili peppers, and tobacco—are widely used.

The Litchi Tomato 
Litchi tomatoes, also known as Morelle de Balbis shrub, isn’t standard fare at the local garden center or nursery. It is neither a litchi nor a tomato and is difficult to find in North America. Online suppliers are your best bet for starts or seed. Get to know what is a litchi tomato, and then give it a try in your garden.

Morelle de Balbis translates to nightshade by Balbis. Giovanni Battista Balbis (17 November 1765 – 3 February 1831) was an Italian botanist and politician who worked in Italy and France. He alternately was called Gioanni Battista Balbis and Jean-Baptiste Balbis.

Growing eggplants can be a very rewarding experience especially if you are a big fan of Italian cuisine. This year we are growing, Millionaire, a Japanese style eggplant and Fairy tale eggplant, a miniature eggplant. Both prefer a hot, sunny location. Eggplant is a brilliant culinary thrill for summertime. It is a relative of potatoes, tomatoes and peppers, otherwise known as nightshades. The most popular dish, eggplant Parmesan is a staple menu item in Italian cuisine. The origin of the dish is claimed by both the Southern regions of Campania and Sicily

Eggplant Millionaire (Solanum melongena var. esculentum)

Eggplant Millionaire (Solanum melongena var. esculentum) flower

Capsicum, Chilies and Peppers   

~  Grassroots Horticulture ~

2022

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________