A new andromonoecious species related to the eggplant and belonging to Solanum subgenus Leptostemonum from southern Africa is described. Solanum umtuma Voronts. & S.Knapp, sp. nov. is found in the eastern part of South Africa, and is sympatric with its close relative Solanum linnaeanum Hepper & P.M-L.Jaeger. It is morphologically very similar to Solanum cerasiferum Dunal of northern tropical Af...

The Dulcamaroid clade of Solanum contains 45 species of mostly vining or weakly scandent species, including the common circumboreal weed Solanum dulcamara L. The group comprises members of the previously recognised infrageneric groupings sect. Andropedas Rusby, sect. Californisolanum A. Child, sect. Dulcamara (Moench) Dumort., sect. Holophylla (G.Don) Walp., sect. Jasminosolanum (Bitter) Seithe...

Three new Brazilian species of the Brevantherum clade of Solanum (Solanaceae) are described, all closely related to the poorly known Solanum inornatum Witasek. Solanum bradei Giacomin & Stehmann, sp. nov., and Solanum kriegeri Giacomin & Stehmann, sp. nov., differ from S. inornatum in having very small deltate calyx lobes that are not accrescent in fruit. Solanum bradei is a shrub up to 1.8 m w...

Two new species of Solanum section Crinitum are described here. Solanum falciforme Farruggia, sp. nov., closely resembles Solanum crinitum and Solanum lycocarpum, but differs by the presence of falcate trichomes on the young growth. It is endemic to the cerrado and adjacent woodlands of Distrito Federal, Bahia, Goiás and Minas Gerais, Brazil. The other species, Solanum pseudosycophanta Farruggi...

Analysis of sequence data from the chloroplast gene ndhF identifies at least 12 major well-supported clades within the genus Solanum. These are briefly described, given informal clade names, and compared with the groups recognized by previous Solanum workers. Non-molecular synapomorphies are proposed for many of the clades. Continued use of informal taxonomic designations is advocated for new i...

Glandular trichomes play important roles in protecting plants from biotic attack by producing defensive compounds. We investigated the metabolic profiles and transcriptomes to characterize the differences between different glandular trichome types in several domesticated and wild Solanum species: Solanum lycopersicum (glandular trichome types 1, 6, and 7), Solanum habrochaites (types 1, 4, and ...

A Solanum species long considered an American introduction to the Cape Verde Islands off the west coast of Africa is identified as Solanum rigidum, a member of the Eggplant clade of Old World spiny solanums (Solanum subgenus Leptostemonum) and is probably endemic to the Cape Verde Islands. Collections of this species from the Caribbean are likely to have been introduced from the Cape Verde Isla...

BACKGROUND Solanum nigrum fruit is traditionally used in Asia to manage, control, and treat diabetes but there is no scientific evidence of the efficacy of Solanum nigrum fruit in treatment of diabetes. We designed this study to investigate the effect of the administration of oral doses of aqueous extract from Solanum nigrum fruit on plasma glucose, lipid profiles, and the sensitivity of the va...

Solanum, with approximately 1,500 species, is the largest genus in the Solanaceae and includes economically important species such as the tomato, potato, and eggplant. In part due to its large size and tropical center of diversity, resolving evolutionary relationships across Solanum as a whole has been challenging. In order to identify major clades within Solanum and to gain insight into phylog...

A data set derived from gene sequences of ndhF is used to deduce phylogenetic relationships among the subgenera of Solanum, among related genera of the tribe Solaneae, and within selected Solanum clades. Complete ndhF sequences were obtained for 12 species of Solanum, representing five of the seven subgenera. ndhF sequences also were obtained from species of Capsicum, Cyphomandra, Datura, Jalto...