nightshade

/ˌnaɪtˈʃeɪd/

/ˈnaɪɾʃeɪd/

Other forms: nightshades

Definitions of nightshade

1. noun

   any of numerous shrubs or herbs or vines of the genus Solanum; most are poisonous though many bear edible fruit
   types:

   Solanum aviculare, kangaroo apple, poroporo

   Australian annual sometimes cultivated for its racemes of purple flowers and edible yellow egg-shaped fruit

   Solanum carolinense, ball nettle, ball nightshade, bull nettle, horse nettle

   coarse prickly weed having pale yellow flowers and yellow berrylike fruit; common throughout southern and eastern United States

   Solanum dulcamara, bittersweet, bittersweet nightshade, climbing nightshade, deadly nightshade, poisonous nightshade, woody nightshade

   poisonous perennial Old World vine having violet flowers and oval coral-red berries; widespread weed in North America

   Solanum elaeagnifolium, prairie berry, purple nightshade, silver-leaved nettle, silver-leaved nightshade, silverleaf nightshade, trompillo, white horse nettle

   weedy nightshade with silvery foliage and violet or blue or white flowers; roundish berry widely used to curdle milk; central United States to South America

   African holly, Solanum giganteum

   woolly-stemmed biennial arborescent shrub of tropical Africa and southern Asia having silvery-white prickly branches, clusters of blue or white flowers, and bright red berries resembling holly berries

   Solanum nigrum, black nightshade, common nightshade, poison-berry, poisonberry

   Eurasian herb naturalized in America having white flowers and poisonous hairy foliage and bearing black berries that are sometimes poisonous but sometimes edible

   Jerusalem cherry, Madeira winter cherry, Solanum pseudocapsicum, winter cherry

   small South American shrub cultivated as a houseplant for its abundant ornamental but poisonous red or yellow cherry-sized fruit

   Solanum rostratum, buffalo bur

   North American nightshade with prickly foliage and racemose yellow flowers

   Solanum burbankii, Solanum melanocerasum, Solanum nigrum guineese, garden huckleberry, sunberry, wonderberry

   improved garden variety of black nightshade having small edible orange or black berries

   type of:

   ligneous plant, woody plant

   a plant having hard lignified tissues or woody parts especially stems