The Solanaceae family includes about 2.5 thousand species of representatives. In the wild, these plants are most commonly found in South and Central America. On the territory of Eurasia, there are no more than 45 varieties of representatives of this family.
Most often, nightshades are perennial or annual grasses. Some shrubs or semi-shrubs also belong to this family. There are also several varieties of nightshade trees. All plants in this family can be divided into two large groups: wild and cultivated. In Russia, it is the nightshades 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:
eggplant;
potato;
Of course, all these plants, as representatives of the same family, have a lot of common characteristics. The fruits of these crops can be berries. This type from the list of nightshade vegetables presented above includes eggplants, tomatoes, potatoes. Other cultivated plants of the family form a capsule as a fruit. Peppers and physalis are grown in domestic gardens from this group of nightshades.
Despite the fact that the fruits of such crops are berries or boxes, they can still be attributed to vegetables. Indeed, it is in this capacity that they are used for the preparation of various kinds of dishes and winter preparations.
The flowers of the representatives of the family of nightshades - tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, etc. - have five petals and are soldered corollas. A distinctive feature of nightshades, including cultural ones, among other things, is that they all, without exception, contain a poisonous substance - corned beef. There can be a lot of it in the tissues of wild plants of this family. Cultivated nightshades also often contain quite a lot 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, eggplants contains just a huge amount of different kinds of 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 peppers, eggplants, tomatoes or physalis are planted directly into the soil, in the future they simply will not have time to ripen before the cold weather.
Tomatoes
This cultivated plant is perhaps the most popular representative of the nightshade among domestic summer residents after potatoes. Most Russian gardeners grow tomatoes from year to year in large quantities.
For the entire time of human cultivation, breeders have bred just a huge number of varieties of tomatoes. If desired, in a suburban area, you can grow early, mid-season, late tomatoes. The seeds of this culture of salad varieties are on sale, intended for fresh consumption or bred specifically for canning.
The tomato is a vegetable whose fleshy juicy fruits can be red, yellow or orange in color. Some genetically modified varieties of tomatoes are purple, blue or, for example, black. However, such varieties are not cultivated on the territory of Russia. The cultivation of 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 peppers. There are many varieties of such crops by breeders, like tomatoes, many have been bred. The fruit of the peppers is a box with fleshy or not very walls. In sweet varieties, it is usually quite large, in bitter varieties it is smaller. The pepper contains many seeds inside the capsule. Outwardly, the planting material of this culture is very similar to tomato seeds.
Like tomatoes, both types of pepper - sweet and bitter - can be used in salads, winter preparations, first and second courses. Young fruits of such nightshades 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 Solanaceae family very willingly. Domesticated eggplants differ from peppers and tomatoes primarily in the shape of leaves and fruits. The aboveground part of these plants is characterized by a lighter green color with a bluish tint than that of other garden nightshades. Eggplant grows not too high. Their flowers can be white or lilac.
Eggplant leaves are more rounded than tomatoes and peppers. The fruits of this member of the family are in most cases elongated and have a rich dark purple color. Many varieties of eggplant 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.
Potato
Eggplants, peppers, physalis and tomatoes are vegetables that eat fruits. Potatoes are an exception in this regard. This representative of the nightshade among summer residents, of course, is no less popular than tomatoes. Most of the vegetable gardens in Russia are occupied by this particular cultivated plant. Tubers growing in the soil are edible in potatoes. The berries of this culture have a very unpleasant taste, contain a lot of corned beef and are not eaten.
The potato belongs to the nightshade family and is a short plant that requires careful maintenance during cultivation. In order for this culture to grow many large tubers, it must be loosened and hilled, periodically watered and weeded.
There are three main varieties of potatoes, like tomatoes - early, mid-season and late. The tubers of this plant can be white, red, yellow, pink. They are eaten fried, boiled, stewed, baked. In winter preparations, unlike tomatoes, eggplants and bell peppers, potatoes are not used. The tubers of this plant can be kept fresh until spring when laid in cool, ventilated rooms.
Together with potatoes intended for consumption, summer residents usually place the 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 with an emphasis on the second syllable is incorrectly fixed, although it is more correct to do it on the first.
Unlike the cultivated nightshade discussed above, this plant in gardens and vegetable gardens can be found quite rarely. However, some summer residents still grow physalis. The fruit of this culture is a capsule formed from accrete sepals and can be red, yellow or orange.
In Russia, the most commonly grown glue-fruited physalis, also called Mexican tomato. The fruit of this plant has a rich, pleasant vegetable taste. 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 are composed of 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 a rather 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, physalis is used in exactly the same way as tomatoes and peppers.
Other members of the family
Solanaceous vegetables from the list above are the most popular cultivated plants among Russian summer residents. However, many other members of the family are quite widespread in our country. Such plants cannot be classified as cultivated, but people also use them quite actively.
We found out the names of vegetables that are part of the nightshade group grown in Russia. These are tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, potatoes and physalis. The most famous wild plants of the nightshade family are:
nightshade black;
belladonna ordinary;
black henbane;
dope ordinary.
Nightshade black
This wonderful plant is found almost everywhere in Russia. Officially, black nightshade belongs to weeds. Indeed, it can bring a lot of trouble to gardeners, hammering potato plantings. This plant reaches heights, depending on the conditions of development, 80-90 cm.
Useful vegetables of the nightshade family from Russian summer residents form the basis of winter preparations, and are also widely used for preparing first courses. Of course, nightshade cannot be classified as a very popular garden crop. 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), very sweet and pleasant to the taste when ripe. 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.
Common belladonna
This herb is popularly known as belladonna. - herbaceous perennial. Like datura 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 excruciating death. Belladonna is widely used by humans, primarily in medicine, in the manufacture of various kinds of medicines.
Black henbane
This poisonous plant in Russia can be found in the south of Siberia and the Urals, in the Central European part. Also henbane is 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. Honey collected by bees from a henbane, and even the meat of agricultural animals that have eaten it, are also poisonous. This plant is used in medicine.
Datura ordinary
This plant also belongs to the group of poisonous and is distributed throughout Russia. The common Datura can reach a height of 1.5 m. Its roots are pivotal, powerful, and the stems are erect, naked, branching. Datura leaves are pointed, ovate, coarsely toothed. The flowers of this representative of the nightshade are white and emit an intoxicating smell. Hence the name of the plant.
Datura fruit is a four-celled capsule covered with thorns. Like belladonna, Datura is widely used in medicine.
Tobacco
Sometimes this nightshade crop can be grown in summer cottages. But more often it is still cultivated by large agricultural enterprises. There are several varieties of tobacco. Such plants can be grown herbaceous perennial or annual, shrub and semi-shrub.
The 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 production of cigarettes. Also, tobacco nicotine can be used in medicine.
The existing plants of the nightshade family have common features. An unusual and attractive feature of this family is the combination of the most unusual species. Solanaceae are a class of dicotyledonous plants.
Black henbane
Belena can be mainly found in the northern regions, and Datura loves warmth, therefore, it grows in the southern regions. The flowers of these two plants have common features. They have elongated tubules and are funnel-shaped. The fruit is a capsule.
Datura ordinary
Datura and henbane can lead to death. However, they are also used for treatment, if you take only tiny doses. For example, in the pharmaceutical industry, henbane leaves are harvested for drugs with anticonvulsant properties.
Belena grows in the Canary Islands, Africa, Eurasia, is a poisonous weed. It belongs to the genus of one- and two-year-old grasses. For medical purposes, the extract from the leaves is made as an analgesic and antispasmodic drug.
Mandrake
Mandragora includes a genus of 5-6 species. Usually these are stemless perennial grasses of large size with noticeable leaves. They are found in the Himalayas, in Western and Central Asia, in the Mediterranean. But at the same time, Mandragora has a developed stem, and Tibetan Mandragora is small in size and does not stand out in anything.
Scopoly grows only in the temperate zone, in Eurasia. The plant is perennial. Available in four to six types. Medicinal and ornamental plant Carnioli scopolia grows in the North Caucasus.
Belladonna
Belladonna belongs to the genus belladonna, reaches a height of 0.6-2 m and is a perennial herb.
Grows in South and Central Europe, Crimea, Caucasus, Asia Minor. Thanks to atropine, it is collected and used as an analgesic and antispasmodic medicine.
Vegetable pepper is a genus of perennial grasses, semi-shrubs and shrubs. There are approximately twenty species that are most commonly seen in South and Central America.
In addition to the aforementioned nightshade vegetables, there are also less popular ones. These are tomatillas, earth cherries, garden blueberries, pepino, pimento. Pimento is also part of the family and resembles bell peppers, but it is red in color and comes from the Capsicum annum pepper.
Original condiments such as cayenne pepper are derived from Capsicum frutenscens. Paprika is made from traditional red peppers. Hot peppers are also referred to as nightshades.
False Nightshade is often found on the island of Madeira and in the Crimea. An upright evergreen shrub stretches in height. Its leaves are oval or lanceolate, without edge, slightly wavy. Fruits are round, berry-like, poisonous. Flowers are white.
Pepper nightshade can be found in Uruguay and southern Brazil. The fruits are bright scarlet, the flowers are white and small in size.
XXI century - the further a person is from nature, the greater the desire to eat natural products. More and more attention is paid to the quality of food, I want to know what appears on our table and how. Our menu cannot be imagined without potatoes, peppers, eggplant and many other vegetables. They all belong to the same family - nightshades.
general information
The Solanaceae family from the Dicotyledonous class, the Flowering division, from the Plants kingdom, has at least 100 genera and more than 2500 species.
The family consists of small trees, creeping shrubs and grasses
Leaves have a variety of shapes- may be:
- whole;
- toothed;
- incised;
- lobed
They are arranged in pairs - large and small. They often have a specific odor.
The flower is bisexual, regular, a calyx of 5 leaves, in the form of teeth or lobes. There are no bracts in the inflorescences-curls, it has a double foliar perianth. Five filaments of stamens are attached to the corolla tubule. The ovary of the pistil is two-celled with a large number of ovules. Anthers are large, located closer to the center of the flower. H (5) L (5) T (5) P (1) - the formula of which can describe the nightshade flower. The plant has several flowers, collected in small inflorescences. The fruit contains a lot of seeds.
In Russia, the family is represented only by herbs, about 45 species. The main representatives are native to the Americas. The most famous - potatoes and tomatoes, appeared in Europe only in the middle of the 16th century and were initially considered only as ornamental plants. In Russia, this culture became known two centuries later.
Today, these nightshades are already indispensable as a food product.
What are the beneficial qualities of nightshade?
Vegetables
The nightshade family includes such popular cultivated vegetables as potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant.
Potatoes - every person knows this plant well. It's hard to imagine a table without him. In the diet of most of us meets almost daily... Contrary to popular belief, this culture contains useful minerals, is rich in vitamins, especially provitamin A. It is difficult to list all the dishes where potatoes are found.
The variety is simply amazing, the plant is represented by a mass of varieties of different taste, shape, size, color, chemical composition and quality. There are varieties that are not afraid of frosts, and even small frosts, the Colorado potato beetle does not take them. In the general ranking of agricultural crops, this plant is second only to wheat, rice and corn.
An equally popular nightshade is a tomato. The Europeans learned about it at the same time as potatoes, but the Aztecs and Incas - this plant was cultivated already in the VIII century. More than 10,000 varieties of tomato are known today. There was a long debate about where to attribute this plant to berries or vegetables. In 2001, the European Union identified it as a fruit representative. The tomato fruit does not contain cholesterol, has a large amount of vitamins A and C, there is an orphan or "hormone of happiness." Due to its lycopene content, it is a good anti-cancer agent and is used for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Heat treatment does not impair its useful properties.
Eggplants and a wide variety of peppers are also the nightshade family.
Berries
More rare representatives are physalis, melon pear, okra. The okra fruit has only recently appeared in our diet. But in Asia, this solanaceous product is grown for more than 2 thousand. years. When used correctly, it is a great addition to the diet. It is known for many wonderful qualities - it lowers cholesterol levels, normalizes blood pressure, heart function, vision, and digestion. Reduces fatigue, boosts immunity and much more.
The nightshade is known for its many popular berries.
Everyone knows about gooseberries, another name is bersen. The plant is distributed throughout Russia and the CIS. From the XI it was grown in the monastery gardens. Loved by modern summer residents. There are at least 1,500 varieties known, the culture is valued as a honey plant, rich in sugar, acids, many vitamins, contains pectin in its composition, and is used in medicine.
The nightshade family contains another interesting plant - goji berry, or Chinese, whose composition is indispensable for humans - iron, zinc, iodine, calcium, phosphorus and many other trace elements. It contains unique polysaccharides and 18 different amino acids, vitamins B, E, C. A good prophylactic agent, useful for high sugar, cholesterol, improves vision, nourishes the brain, improves digestion, is a good antioxidant, has anti-cancer properties.
The family simply must in its composition have such a berry as nightshade black... The berry is used as a filling of pies, jam is made from it, jelly is boiled. Let's consider what type of fruit the nightshade has - black, less often white or greenish, round shape up to 1 cm in diameter, juicy. It must be remembered that unripe fruit cannot be consumed, it is poisonous.
Flowers
The nightshade flower is very popular with flower growers. The most common type of petunia is a bright, large, beautiful flower. About 15 species and many hybrids. There is no gardener who would do without a petunia. By right, nightshade takes its place on flower beds - dope, cestrum, brufelzia. Almost any plant of this species can be grown as an ornamental plant. In addition to flowers, the fruit looks very beautiful.
The family is known many medicinal plants:
- most often in medicine such a nightshade is used as belladonna, the leaves are used to make tablets, tinctures, etc. are prescribed to reduce the tone of the intestines, bronchi, uterus, improve heart function, increase eye pressure as an antioxidant;
- henbane is well known for its analgesic properties; the raw materials are harvested until the flower has fully blossomed;
- for many centuries, mandrake has been used for medicinal purposes - as an analgesic, healing wounds, for skin pathologies; this plant is difficult to overestimate;
- in black nightshade, the flower is used for medicinal purposes, as an expectorant and diuretic.
However, not everything is so simple, do not forget the harmfulness of some representatives of this family. Wikipedia gives a fairly complete overview of such plants with pictures, examples of them are widespread in many countries.
What is the danger of the nightshade species
Any plant from this family contains alkaloids, which makes them poisonous. The most famous alkaloid, this is nicotine... Tobacco is also a nightshade plant. So much has been written about the dangers of tobacco that there seems to be nothing more to add. Almost all countries in the world have declared a real war on him.
Quite often they cause poisoning of belladonna berries, although this plant is almost harmless to animals. But almost all cultivated nightshades often cause poisoning in horses, sheep, goats, cattle, pigs. Even regular potatoes can be poisonous. Many cases of mass poisoning with black nightshade have been recorded. To avoid problems, it should be destroyed next to pastures.
Among the nightshades, there is such a terrible plant as prickly nightshade... A vicious quarantine weed. It is worth missing the moment, and it will quickly clog up your vegetable garden or garden. Yield losses reach 100%. The leaves are poisonous to animals, the plant is a breeding ground for the Colorado potato beetle, potato moth, pathogens of viral diseases.
The tomato and cucumber salad has become a classic for us. However, only three hundred years ago, these vegetables were not familiar to our ancestors. How much our diet has changed and whether it is so beneficial to have international food on the table can be seen in the example of nightshades.
What are nightshades?
They are representatives of the Solanaceae family, which includes more than 90 genera and 2000 species. Tobacco also belongs to this family. It has been used for several centuries, but now many are abandoning it because of the harm it causes to health. Products from the nightshade family include tomatoes, potato, eggplant and all kinds pepper, with the exception of black, which belongs to another plant family, Piperaceae. Mexican tomatoes are also nightshade, popular in Central and South America. Why are nightshades literally called "night shadows" in English? According to some sources, the Romans used nightshades in their cooking. poison for your enemies... When a person drank a poisoned drink, the shadow of a long, eternal night fell on him - he was dying.
The Solanaceae family is a large group of plants, consisting of 92 genera and more than 2000 species.... These include beautiful flowers such as petunias, juicy vegetables, addictive tobacco, medications such as scoplonin, which is found in insomnia pills, and many poisonous plants such as belladonna with black berries that are forbidden for children to eat, as well as foul-smelling henbane.
What problems arise with nightshades?
Due to several poisonous plants of this family, people in the past were wary of eating potatoes, and some older people still believe that tomatoes are poisonous. For more than a century, livestock breeders did not allow their livestock to eat the nightshade growing in the fields. Farmers sent their children to pluck nightshades. The shepherds are well aware of Jen Autry's famous song "Low Datura". Livestock owners watched the animals eat these herbs, get sick and die. Tomatoes were once known as "crayfish apples". And tobacco for a long time caused obvious damage to the health of smokers, until the authorities, and now the media, began to fight it.
The question arises: do little-studied nightshades pose a health threat? Nowadays, potatoes and tomatoes are the main vegetables; along with peppers and possibly eggplant, they are part of the daily diet of many people.
I became aware of the nightshade problem in the 1950s when my doctor told me that hot peppers could cause inflammation in the colon, which resulted in surgery. As a vegetable grower, I researched the nightshade family and eliminated these foods and tobacco from my diet. My health problems, including arthritis, disappeared. My colleagues noticed that I had cured arthritis. They began to follow "my" diet, and, having received positive results, in the end, turned to me: "Why don't you help other suffering?" Therefore, by personally gathering information and posting several announcements with questions, we ended up receiving over 400 positive (72%) dietary reviews and publishing a book called Nightshades and Health. Subsequently, the Center for the Study of the Health Effects of Solanaceae was established; we have distributed thousands of copies of The Child's Arthritis Diet, which was revised to original version.
If the average person eats nightshades from time to time, he can safely do so for many years. But nightshades like herbal drugs - like tobacco - are addictive. The more of these drugs a person uses, the sooner problems arise, and the more serious these problems are. Some people are more sensitive to nightshades, especially people with arthritis and the elderly. But in our time of massive consumption of nightshades, fried potatoes and pizza, even children and adolescents, like adults, are forced to take medications for headaches, asthma, inflammation, etc. Parents are worried about their children. The effects of nightshades are subtle, and heart problems, circulatory problems, or even cancer can occur suddenly. Tobacco is known to cause cancer, and tomatoes have enjoyed a similar reputation in the past, but unlike tobacco, it's hard to tell if other nightshades can cause cancer since everyone eats them. Comparative analysis is not possible. All nightshades contain narcotic and drug-like chemicals. All nightshades are more or less addictive.
Norman F. Childers,
PhD, Founder and Chairman of the Center for the Study of Arthritis and Solanaceae
Solanine is an alkaloid that causes diarrhea, headache and joint pain, lack of will, insomnia, nervousness, depression, dizziness, stomach cramps, and cardiac arrhythmias. They can also cause gastrointestinal and neurological disorders. Solanine slows down the breakdown of acetylcholine and is a neurotransmitter. The result is muscle numbness. Solanin also contributes to malfunctioning of the thyroid gland, chronic joint pain, leaky gut, and depression.
The calcitriol in nightshades causes the intestines to absorb calcium from food, but too much of it leads to elevated blood calcium levels. The body stores excess calcium in soft tissues, tendons, cartilage, kidneys, and skin. This can lead to osteoarthritis, coronary artery disease, bone spurs and pain!
Cooking reduces the solanine content slightly. And in traditional diets, raw vegetables are consumed. Pickled green tomatoes and bell peppers contain the most solanine. Cheese made from goat and cow milk softens the effects of nightshades. Vitamin K2 inhibits the accumulation of calcium in soft tissues. Therefore, those who do not consume dairy products and limit themselves to meat are most susceptible to the influence of nightshades. Also deficiencies in vitamins D, K and magnesium can make you more sensitive to nightshades. Doctors and scientists about nightshades Dr. Norman Childres first became interested in nightshades in the 1950s. He is now 94. He was a gardener scientist who discovered that diverticulitis was caused by nightshades. Naturopath Garrett Smith says avoiding nightshades reduces arthritis pain, muscle pain, gallbladder problems, and insomnia.
How to replace nightshades
Try black pepper, ginger root, or dry mustard instead of chili. Use sweet potatoes instead of white ones. Boiled millet and cabbage can be mashed. Tomatoes are harder to find substitutes. But umeboshi plums mixed with boiled beets or carrots can substitute for tomato sauce. It is very tasty, spicy and salty, although sometimes it is too salty. And umeboshi plums are very hard to find. Also note that nightshades are not used in Chinese cuisine! Why not go to Chinese restaurants instead of Mexican restaurants?
The nightshade plants, tested by time and folk experience, have long and firmly captured the primacy of popularity in domestic gardens and dachas. Their species list is huge, and their agricultural value is great. Below you will find a list of popular nightshade garden crops.
Potatoes: features of the nightshade plant
It is difficult to overestimate the importance of potatoes or tuberous nightshade for a Russian gardener. It is used for food, as well as animal feed and industrial crops. Botanically, this garden plant belongs to the Solanaceae family. Potatoes are especially rich in starch - a source of glucose for the human body.
- the bush reaches a height of 1 m;
- stem - naked, ribbed;
- leaves - dark green with petioles;
- flowers - thyroid inflorescences at the tops, white, pink or purple;
- the ripening time of the nightshade culture is the end of summer - the beginning of autumn.
Attention! Potato tubers are formed on underground shoots (stolons) that begin in the axils of the rudimentary leaves above the ground.
Fruiting nightshade plants: tomatoes and peppers
Tomatoes or tomatoes are herbaceous annual crops of the Solanum genus. For a long time, people considered them poisonous, but then considered them as undeniable benefits. Tomatoes contain a large amount of all kinds of trace elements, mineral salts, vitamins, proteins, starch, organic acids, glucose and fructose. The fruits of this nightshade tone up the work of the cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal tract.
Attention! In the climate of the northern hemisphere, tomato cultivation can only be carried out in seedlings. Otherwise, the crop of the nightshade crop will not have time to ripen.
Tomatoes are distinguished by a very branched taproot, which reaches 1 m in length and 1.5-2.5 m in width. The flowers are small and inconspicuous. Tomatoes have a wide variety of variety names, therefore they can differ among themselves in most of the characteristics: type of stem, size and color of leaves, shape, size, taste and color of the fruit. Also, these nightshades can produce a crop once or develop fruits throughout the season, as they are harvested.
Vegetable or chilli peppers are well known within two large groups: sweet and bitter. At home, in America, it forms perennial shrubs. We usually grow it as an annual. The pepper has an erect, highly branched stem (25-80 cm).
Leaves petiolar, elongated. The flowers are small, yellow, white or lavender. Various types of pepper are enriched with vitamins P and C, minerals, which heals the circulatory system. Hot pepper preparations are also used as external medicines.
Attention! Hot black pepper does not belong to nightshade.
Other types of nightshade garden crops
From the Solanaceae family in the climate of the Russian Federation also grow:
Ornamental nightshades are also planted in the garden:
- petunia, which has large funnel-shaped flowers of bright shades;
- brugmansia with large flowers (up to 25 cm in length) of a delicate color, in the evenings exuding a unique strong aroma;
- fragrant tobacco is not so large, but it has a rich carmine color that pleases the eye.
Despite the southern origin, Solanaceae normally adapted to cool climates. It is more efficient to grow heat-loving crops by seedlings, some - exclusively under the shelter of a greenhouse.
Solanaceae for growing in the country: video
