We buy them from the farmers market, we grow them in our gardens and we serve them on our tables in meals ranging from salads to pizzas. But there are many other members of this family, also commonly known as nightshades. Some nightshade plants are poisonous, such as jimsonweed and the aptly-named deadly nightshade, but many lesser-known edible nightshades can make great additions to your garden and culinary endeavors.
If you want to expand past the well-known tomato into some more unique crops, here are four great nightshades to try as well as tips for growing and using them. Ground Cherries Ground cherry plants pictured above are similar in size and appearance to tomato plants, and the cherry-sized fruit is enclosed within thin, papery husks.
A native plant that has been enjoyed by generations of farmers dating back to the Pilgrims, the cherry-sized ground cherries can be eaten fresh or used in pies, salads, preserves and more.
They should be planted in well-drained soil with full sunlight: ground cherries—like most nightshades—thrive in hot, sunny weather. A tomato cage or trellis can be used to help your ground cherries grow upright, but they are also strong enough to support themselves on their own. Goji Berries The remarkable goji plant is a disease-resistant shrub—typically 7 to 10 feet tall—that produces abundant berries filled with antioxidants, beta carotene and other nutrients.
Department of Agriculture zones 5 through 9 ideal. Although this plant is not original to North America, it was introduced and is now naturalized in a limited region of the Northeast and more widely throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Deadly nightshade is not commonly cultivated in residential gardens due to the plant's toxicity. Besides being found in the wild, it is grown as a curiosity specimen for educational purposes in botanical gardens. Nightshade is commercially cultivated to obtain atropine and other compounds for use in the pharmaceutical industry.
The largest producers are France, England and the U. Other plants in this family, such as tobacco, are also poisonous. Bas relief of Atropos cutting the thread of life.
Louvre Museum, Paris, France. In addition to atropine, which does indeed affect the pupils of the eye, several other highly toxic and potent psychoactive tropane alkaloids are found in belladonna, including hyoscyamine and scopolamine. All parts of the plant are toxic, but the sweet, purplish-black berries that are attractive to children pose the greatest danger.
Symptoms of poisoning include rapid heart beat, dilated pupils, delirium, vomiting, hallucinations, and death due to respiratory failure.
Handling the plant can expose a person to absorbing toxins through the skin or cause severe dermatitis. Belladonna is also highly toxic to domestic animals causing paralysis and death. Atropa belladonna is a medium sized shrub with dark green leaves and distinct purple bell-shaped flowers.
It has also been used as a cosmetic. It was the fashion in Italy in the Middle Ages for women to use eye drops containing deadly nightshade.
The drops enlarged their pupils which was considered attractive, hence the nickname belladonna which literally means beautiful woman in the Italian language. Deadly nightshade was also popular with assassins because it was so deadly. It has been used since Roman times to poison both food and drink. Wealthy people employed food tasters to avoid being poisoned. Assassins knew that by ingesting small quantities over time, they could build a tolerance to the poison so they could take a job as a food taster with their intended target and taste the food without being poisoned.
Deadly nightshade is a perennial woody shrub that is native to Europe and the Near East. It was brought to North America by the European colonists who grew it for its medicinal properties.
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