[L. sōlānum nightshade.] A plant of the nightshade family, or the genus of gamopetalous plants of which this is the type; some amount or preparation of the plant used for medical purposes. Also fig.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, III. xci. 447. This solanum cooleth … more strongly than the common Nightshade.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., II. v. I. vi. Simples, as poppy, nightshade or solanum.
a. 1652. J. Smith, Sel. Disc., i. 7. That venemous solanum, that deadly nightshade, that drives its cold poison into the understandings of men.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 145. Apothecaries when dispensing a recipe wherein antimony, solanum, laudanum, or mercury is an ingredient, are extremely careful to weigh the exact quantity.
1816. Tuckey, Narr. Exped. R. Zaire, i. (1818), 22. Some herbaceous plants, particularly a convolvolus,… a solanum, a lotus, an aloe, &c.
1880. C. R. Markham, Peruv. Bark, 123. A dense growth of bright-yellow compositæ, and solanums with a purple flower.
1884. trans. De Candolle’s Orig. Cultivated Pl., 49. The abundance of tuberous solanums growing in the temperate regions of America,… confirms the fact of an American origin.
attrib. 1842. Brande, Dict. Sci., etc. 1129/1. Some of the Solanum tribes.
1861. Bentley, Man. Bot., 598. Solanaceæ.—The Solanum or Potato Order.
1884. trans. De Candolle’s Orig. Cultivated Pl., 53. The sweet potato belongs to the Convolvulus family, the potato to the Solanum family.
