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Language: English
From the foreword:
"The Solanaceae, also known as the potato or deadly nightshade family, is one of humankind’s most utilized and important plant families. It contains some of the world’s most important food plants, such as the potato, tomato, brinjal, bell and chilli peppers, ground cherries and raspberries. It also includes a suite of deadly toxic plants represented by belladonna, mandrake, Jimson weed, henbane and tobacco. The deadly nightshades are also members of this incredible family.
Rich in potent psychoactive alkaloids, it is a family of plants with a veritable chemical mix of desirable and toxic compounds referred to as the tropane alkaloids. They include nicotine, solanine, capsaicin, atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine chemicals that have been used as healing drugs in small doses, misunderstood or abused as addictive drugs, and employed as pesticides and warfare agents when utilized in toxic doses. Use of several as garden ornamentals species of Petunia, Brugmansia, Brunfeisia, Cestrum, Datura, Solandra, Lycium, Nicotiana etc. increase the economic importance of the family. Besides, many of the Solanaceae, such as tobacco and petunia, are used as model organisms in the investigation of fundamental biological questions at the cellular, molecular and genetic levels. However, of the recorded 98 genera and some 2,700 species of Solanaceae in the world, the genus Solanum alone includes nearly 50% of the total species diversity of the family. In India, about 122 species of Solanaceae have been reported to occur and of these, 49 species belong to the genus Solanum.
All the above facts illustrate the economic and botanical importance of the family Solanaceae and justify a detailed scientific study of it in different geographical regions. The present book is the result of extensive fieldwork undertaken by the authors in Eastern Ghat region of India spanning over three states Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamilnadu, consultation of herbarium specimens housed in major Indian herbaria and determination of identity and nomenclature of the species. This gives a comprehensive account of the diversity, distribution, taxonomy and ecology of 23 wild and 3 cultivated species of Solanum occurring in the Eastern Ghats of India with colour photo-plates for each species. It is hoped that this book will be a handy tool for identification of Solanum species of this important bio-geographic zone of India by scientists, researchers, and foresters."
