Nightshade vegetables: a list of popular members of the family

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The nightshade family includes about 2.5 thousand species of representatives. In the wild, such plants are most often found in South and Central America. On the territory of Eurasia, there are no more than 45 varieties of representatives of this family.

Most nightshade are perennial or annual herbs. Some shrubs or semi-shrubs also belong to this family. There are also several varieties of nightshade trees. All plants of this family can be divided into two large groups: wild and cultivated. In Russia, it is solanaceous that form the basis of all plantings in suburban areas. Most often, domestic summer residents grow five representatives of this family.

List of nightshade vegetables

The most popular vegetables of this group among Russian gardeners are:

• tomatoes;
• pepper;
• eggplant;
• potato;
• physalis.

Of course, all these plants, as representatives of the same family, have a lot of common features. The fruits of thesecrops may be berries. This species from the above list of nightshade vegetables includes eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes. Other cultivated plants of the family form a box as a fruit. In domestic gardens, pepper and physalis are grown from this group of nightshade.

Despite the fact that the fruits of such crops are berries or boxes, they can still be attributed to vegetables. After all, it is in this capacity that they are used to prepare various kinds of dishes and winter preparations.

Flowers of representatives of the nightshade family - tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, etc. - have five petals and are fused corollas. A distinctive feature of nightshade, including cultural, among other things, is the fact that all of them, without exception, contain a poisonous substance - corned beef. It can be very abundant in the tissues of wild plants of this family. Cultivated nightshades also often contain a fairly large amount of corned beef. However, in their edible parts, this substance is usually still not very much.

Despite the presence of corned beef, eating the fruits of nightshade crops can bring tremendous benefits to the human body. The pulp of tomatoes, peppers, physalis, eggplant contains just a huge amount of various amino acids, trace elements and vitamins.

All nightshade vegetables, with the exception of potatoes, are grown by Russian summer residents using the seedling method. In the wild, such crops usually grow in fairly hot climates. If the peppereggplants, tomatoes or physalis will be planted directly into the soil, subsequently they simply will not have time to ripen before the cold weather.

Next, consider what characterizes each plant from the presented list of nightshade vegetables.

Tomatoes

This cultivated plant is, perhaps, the most popular representative of nightshade among domestic summer residents after potatoes. Most Russian gardeners grow tomatoes year after year in large quantities.

For all the time of cultivation by man, breeders have bred just a huge number of varieties of tomatoes. If desired, early, mid-ripening, late tomatoes can be grown on a suburban area. Seeds of this crop of lettuce varieties are available for sale, intended for fresh consumption or bred specifically for canning.

Tomato is a vegetable whose fleshy, juicy fruits can be red, yellow or orange. Some genetically modified varieties of tomatoes are purple, blue or, for example, black. However, such varieties are not cultivated in Russia. Growing genetically modified crops in our country, as you know, is prohibited by law.

Pepper

In their suburban areas summer residents in Russia can grow two main varieties of such nightshade. It can be sweet or bitter pepper. Varieties of such crops by breeders, like tomatoes, have been bred a lot. The fruit of peppers is a box with fleshy or not very walls. Atin sweet varieties it is usually quite large, in bitter varieties it is smaller. Inside the pepper box are many seeds. Externally, the planting material of this crop is very similar to tomato seeds.

Like tomatoes, both varieties of pepper - both sweet and bitter - can be used in the preparation of salads, winter preparations, first and second courses. Young fruits in such nightshade have a pale green color. As they mature, they turn bright red. Sometimes summer residents also grow yellow or dark green peppers.

Eggplant

Russian gardeners also grow these vegetables of the nightshade family very willingly. Cultivated eggplants differ from peppers and tomatoes primarily in the form of leaves and fruits. The aerial part of these plants is characterized by a lighter color than other garden nightshades, green with a bluish tinge. Eggplants do not grow too high. Their flowers can be white or lilac.

Eggplant leaves are more rounded than those of tomatoes and peppers. The fruits of this member of the family are in most cases elongated and have a rich dark purple color. A lot of varieties of eggplants were also bred by breeders. Fresh, unlike tomatoes and peppers, the fruits of this culture are not eaten. Eggplants are used mainly in winter preparations or simply fried.

Potatoes

Eggplants, peppers, physalis and tomatoes are vegetables that eat fruits. In this regard, potatoes areexception. This representative of nightshade among summer residents, of course, is no less popular than tomatoes. Most of the gardens in Russia are occupied by this cultivated plant. Edible potatoes are tubers that develop in the soil. The berries of this crop have a very unpleasant taste, contain a lot of corned beef and are not eaten.

Potato belongs to the nightshade family and is a low plant that requires careful care in the process of growing. In order for this culture to grow many large tubers, it needs to be loosened and hilled, periodically watered and weeded.

The main varieties of potatoes, like tomatoes, there are three - early, mid-season and late. The tubers of this plant can be white, red, yellow, pink. They are eaten in fried, boiled, stewed, baked form. In winter preparations, unlike tomatoes, eggplants and bell peppers, potatoes are not used. The tubers of this plant are able to remain fresh until spring when laid in cool ventilated rooms.

Together with potatoes intended for human consumption, gardeners usually place seed material of this crop - medium-sized tubers - in the cellars. In the spring, such potatoes are dried, germinated and planted in holes in the area with the addition of ash and manure.

Physalis

This vegetable from the nightshade family has the following Latin name: Phýsalis. In Russian, the pronunciation of this word was incorrectly fixed with an emphasis on the second syllable, althoughit's better to do it on the first one.

Unlike the cultivated nightshades discussed above, this plant in gardens and vegetable gardens can be found quite rarely. However, some gardeners still grow physalis. The fruit of this culture is a box formed from fused sepals, and can be red, yellow or orange.

In Russia, sticky-fruited physalis, also called the Mexican tomato, is most often grown. The taste of the fruits of this plant have a rich pleasant vegetable. Also, domestic summer residents often grow strawberry, very fragrant physalis. The fruits of this variety are juicy and sweet. They are valued by gardeners primarily for their pleasant strawberry aroma and taste.

In any case, physalis fruits are considered a dietary product. They contain vitamins, trace elements, amino acids, and they have many useful properties. How to eat physalis correctly, since it is a plant for domestic gardens, is still quite a rare culture, of course, not all Russian summer residents know. In fact, everything is extremely simple. You can eat physalis, for example, fresh. Also, winter preparations are often made from the fruits of this plant. That is, they use physalis in exactly the same way as tomatoes and peppers.

Other members of the family

Nightshade vegetables from the list above are the most popular cultivated plants among Russian summer residents. However, quite widespread in our country and many otherfamily members. Such plants cannot be classified as cultivated, but a person also uses them quite actively.

The names of vegetables belonging to the nightshade group grown in Russia, we found out. These are tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, potatoes and physalis. The most famous wild plants of the nightshade family are:

• black nightshade;
• Bella vulgaris;
• black henbane;
• datura ordinary.

Black nightshade

This wonderful plant is found almost everywhere in Russia. Black nightshade is officially a weed. And indeed, it can bring a lot of trouble to gardeners, scoring potato plantings. This plant reaches heights, depending on the conditions of development, 80-90 cm.

Useful vegetables of the nightshade family among Russian summer residents form the basis of winter preparations, and are also widely used for cooking first courses. Nightshade, of course, cannot be attributed to the category of very popular garden crops. However, the berries of this weed can still be eaten.

Many summer residents even specially leave several large nightshade bushes on the site for this purpose. The berries of this plant are black (sometimes yellow), when ripe, they are very sweet and pleasant to the taste. You can eat them fresh. Some summer residents also collect nightshade for baking, for example, pies. The green berries of this plant are inedible, contain a lot of corned beef and have an extremely unpleasant taste.

Beautycommon

Popularly, this herb is better known as belladonna. Common belladonna is a herbaceous perennial. Like dope and henbane, it is a poisonous plant. On the territory of Russia, belladonna is found mainly only in the Crimea. Also, this representative of the nightshade family is common in the Caucasus and the Carpathians.

Belladonna berries are juicy and very poisonous. Eating them can cause a painful death. Belladonna is widely used by man, primarily in medicine in the manufacture of various kinds of drugs.

Black henbane

This poisonous plant in Russia can be found in the south of Siberia and the Urals, in the Central European part. Henbane is also common in the Caucasus, North America, Africa and Australia. The fruit of this plant is a box with seeds similar to poppy seeds. There are a lot of alkaloids in different parts of henbane. To get poisoned, it is enough just to smell the flower of this plant. Poisonous are also honey collected by bees from henbane, and even the meat of agricultural animals that ate it. This plant is used in medicine.

Datura common

This plant also belongs to the group of poisonous and is distributed throughout Russia. In height, dope ordinary can reach 1.5 m. Its roots are pivotal, powerful, and the stems are erect, bare, branching. Datura leaves are pointed, ovate, coarsely serrated. The flowers of this nightshade representative are white in color and emit an intoxicating smell. Hence the nameplants.

Datura fruits are a four-cell box covered with thorns. Like belladonna, dope is widely used in medicine.

Tobacco

Sometimes this nightshade culture can be grown in summer cottages. But more often it is cultivated by large agricultural enterprises. There are several varieties of tobacco. Such herbaceous perennial or annual, shrub and semi-shrub plants can be grown.

Green mass of tobacco, in addition to minerals, pectins, acids or alkalis, contains tar and nicotine. This plant is used, as you know, mainly in the manufacture of cigarettes. Also, tobacco nicotine can be used in medicine.