Tomato Overview
Solanum is a very large and diverse genus containing up to 2000 species of annual and perennial twining climbers, shrubs and trees, in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. These may be evergreen or deciduous and this genus includes the economically important crop plants potatoes, tomatoes and aubergines. Solanum also includes poisonous plants such as woody nightshade, and many others which are grown as ornamentals. They produce attractive, 5-lobed flowers with distinguished stamens, often in a contrasting colour. These lead on to fleshy fruits. Some species are popular as garden plants, such as Solanum crispum, which is also known as the Chilean potato tree - a vigorous scrambling climber, grown for its pretty blue-purple flowers with prominent yellow stamens. Ingestion of many parts of many species may cause severe discomfort.
