Meaning & use
Solanaceae
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Meaning
proper nounproperbiologytechnical
The plant family known as the nightshades, whose members include the potato, tomato, pepper, eggplant and tobacco.
Grammar: A scientific family name, written with a capital letter and treated as plural in meaning.
Patterns
- a member of the Solanaceae
- in the Solanaceae
Tomatoes and potatoes belong to the Solanaceae.
The Solanaceae includes both food crops and poisonous plants.
Botanists classify petunias in the Solanaceae.
Common combinations
- member of the Solanaceae
- Chili is a member of the Solanaceae.
- belong to the Solanaceae
- Eggplants belong to the Solanaceae.
- Solanaceae family
- The Solanaceae family has more than two thousand species.
- family Solanaceae
- Belladonna is in the family Solanaceae.
Synonyms and how they differ
- nightshade family
- The nightshade family is the common English name, easier to say than the scientific Solanaceae.
- solanaceous plants
- This phrase refers to the plants themselves, while Solanaceae names the family.
Word family
- solanaceous adjective
- belonging to the nightshade family
- solanine noun
- a toxic compound found in some nightshades
- Solanum proper noun
- the large genus that includes potato and eggplant
Commonly confused: Solanaceae or Solanum?
Solanaceae vs Solanum
Solanum is a genus within the family, while Solanaceae is the entire family.
Practice
Which of these crops belongs to the Solanaceae?
Choose one answer.
The tomato is a nightshade. Carrot belongs to a different family, and wheat and onion are not nightshades.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “Solanaceae”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.