The leaves contain 1.29% alkaloids. Partial synthesis of etiolin has been reported.
Solanum torvum Sw.
Family Solanaceae.
Habitat Throughout tropical parts of India, in waste places.
English West Indian Turkey Berry.
Ayurvedic Brihati (White-flowered- var.), Goshtha-vaartaaku.
Siddha/Tamil Chundai.
, Folk Ran-Baingan, Goth-begun.
Action Plant—digestive, diuretic, sedative. Leaves—haemostatic.
Fruits—useful in liver and spleen enlargement (cooked and eaten as a vegetable); decoction used for cough. Root—used for poulticing cracks in feet.
Unripe fruits and leaves contain the glycoalkaloid, solasonine (0.37% total alkaloids in air-dried fruits of the plant from Khasi and Jaintia hills). Hydrolysis of the neutral glucosidal fraction yields a steroidal sapogenin, chlorogenin, which is rare in Solanum sp.
The fruits gave sitosterol-D-glucoside.
Extracts of the plant affect the rate and amplitude of respiration, also blood pressure. They also contract isolated ileum of guinea-pig. Leaves contain no vitamin K or derivatives of naphthoquinone; their haemostatic action may be due to the oil or pectins or both.
Solanum trilobatum Linn. Family Solanaceae.
Habitat Deccan Peninsula. English Climbing Brinjal.
Ayurvedic Alarka, Vailikantakaarikaa, Kantakaari-lataa.
Siddha/Tamil Toothuvilai.
Action Berries and flowers—a decoction is used for cough and chronic bronchitis.
The steroidal alkaloid, solasodine, is present in fruit and leaf of the plant (air-dried fruits and leaves from Coimbatore gave 0.96 and 0.36% respectively). A crude glycoalkaloid mixture, isolated from the plant material, contained about 20% beta-solamarine. The plant exhibited antimitotic, antitumour, antibacterial and antifungal activities and showed promising results in two cancer test systems—KB cell and sarcoma 180 in mice.
Solanum tuberosum Linn.
Family Solanaceae.
Solidago virga-aurea Linn. 615
Habitat Native to South America; grown almost throughout India.
