A new species of Solanum from Brazil is described. Solanum evolvuloides Giacomin & Stehmann, sp. nov. belongs to section Gonatotrichum, a small group assigned to the Brevantherum Clade of the genus Solanum. It resembles Solanum turneroides Chodat, sharing with it heterandry, and Solanum parcistrigosum Bitter, with which it shares a similar habit and pubescence. Despite these similarities, the s...

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...

Solanum section Lasiocarpa includes about a dozen species with a center of diversity in theNewWorld tropics. Solanum lasiocarpum and S. repandum (sometimes considered to be conspeciŽc as S. ferox) have an Old World distribution in Asia and the PaciŽc Islands. Several species in this section produce edible fruits, and two, the lulo or naranjilla (S. quitoense) and the cocona (S. sessiliorum) ar...

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...