Family | Solanaceae

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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

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Chili Peppers | Scoville Heat

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chili Peppers 

Here are freshly picked chili peppers and tomatoes on a bed of  spicy oregano from my garden.

Southwest Culture Includes Chile Pepper Cuisine and Festivals

Hatch chili pepper festivals are occurring all over the southwestern United States so I thought I would update my Scoville chart. The original Hatch Chile Festival in Hatch, New Mexico started as an annual event that occurred every Labor Day.  The small farming community in New Mexico is the Chile Capital of the world, known worldwide for raising renowned Hatch chilies. To be a genuine Hatch chile it must be grown around the Hatch, New Mexico area. You will find several cultivars and heat levels coming out of that area but most of the chilies are a type of New Mexico chile or Anaheim chili. For those of you saying to yourself, "wait a minute, Anaheim is in California," you are correct. The name "Anaheim" derives from Emilio Ortega, a farmer who brought the seeds to the Anaheim, California, area in the early 1900s. They are also called California chile or Magdalena, and dried as chile seco del norte. Since Anaheim peppers originated from New Mexico, they are also sometimes known as New Mexico chili peppers.
The New Mexico chili is a group of cultivars first grown by Pueblo and Hispano communities throughout Santa Fe de Nuevo México. The plants were developed by horticulturist Fabián Garcia at New Mexico State University in 1894.

Scoville Heat Chart

Scoville Heat Unit (SHU)	Type of Pepper
0	No Heat ~ Bell Pepper
100 ~ 500	Pimento ~ Pepperoncini
500 ~ 2,500	Anaheim Chili Pepper
1,000 ~ 1,500	Poblano Chili Pepper
1,500 ~ 2,500	Rocotillo Chili Pepper
2,500 ~ 8,000	Jalapeno Chili Pepper
4,500 ~ 5,000	New Mexican Varieties of Anaheim Chili Pepper
5,000 ~ 10,000	Wax Chili Pepper
10,000 ~ 23,000	Serrano Chili Pepper
30,000 ~ 50,000	Cayenne, Aji, and Tabasco Chili Peppers
30,000 ~ 50,000	Chilli Willy, Peter Chili Peppers
50,000 ~ 100, 000	Thai, Pequin, Chiltepin, Malagueta Chili Peppers
100,000 ~ 200, 000	Jamaican Hot, Rocoto, African Birdseye Chili Peppers
100,000 ~ 350, 000	Habanero, Scotch Bonnet Chili Pepper
350,000 ~ 577,000	Red Savino Habanero Chili Pepper
855,000 ~ 1,041,427	Naga Jolokia Chili Pepper
2,000,000 ~ 5,300,000	Pepper Spray
15,000,000 ~ 16,000,000	Capsaicin

 

Eudicots Asterids Solanales Solanoideae Capsiceae Capsicum