Petunioideae

Petunioideae is a subfamily of the flowering plant family Solanaceae, the nightshades. It contains thirteen genera, as follows:Armando T. Hunziker: The Genera of Solanaceae. A.R.G. Gantner Verlag K.G., Ruggell, Liechtenstein 2001.

*''Benthamiella'' Speg. 12 species native to Patagonia: caespitose ("cushion-forming") dwarf shrubs. The species ''B. pycnophylloides'' Speg. bears the Spanish common name ''leña de piedra'' ("the kindling that grows on rock") in its native Argentina.''Flora Argentina : Flora Vascular de la República Argentina'' Volume 13 Solanaceae 1st ed. pub San Isidro : Instituto de Botánica Darwinion; Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Vegetal, Argentina, 2013, Series Volume 13 , volume editor-in-chief Gloria E. Barboza.
*'' Bouchetia'' Dunal 3 neotropical species.
*'' Brunfelsia'' L. Approximately 45 neotropical species. Shrubs with lavender or white flowers with slender tubes and narrow mouths in the centre of broad salver-form corolla lobes. Several species with medicinal and hallucinogenic properties.
*'' Combera'' Sandw. 2 species native to Patagonia: ''C. paradoxa'' Sandw. from Argentina (provinces of Neuquén and Rio Negro and adjoining parts of Chile) and ''C. minima'' Sandw., a very rare species endemic to the Chilean province of Valdivia. Dwarf herbaceous perennials – alpine xerophytes. ''C. paradoxa'' is an attractive plant meriting cultivation as an ornamental, bearing rosettes of dark green leaves contrasting with pale, fragrant flowers borne in profusion. Corollas white, tinged violet, contrasting with showy, bright yellow stamens and narrow-lobed, hairy, purple calyces.
*'' Fabiana'' Ruiz & Pav. known as pichi or false heath, 15 species from the Andes.
*'' Hunzikeria'' D'Arcy 3 species from the southwestern United States and Mexico.
*'' Leptoglossis'' Benth. 7 species from western South America.
*'' Nierembergia'' Ruiz & Pav. cup flowers, 21 species from South America.
*'' Pantacantha'' Speg. monotypic genus from western Argentina and Patagonia, the single species being ''Pantacantha ameghinoi'' Speg., a low (usually less than 1 m), spiny-leaved shrub bearing small, pale yellow, urceolate ("urn-shaped") flowers attractively striated with purple, native to the south of Mendoza Province in western Argentina and also to the Argentinian provinces of Neuquén, Río Negro and Chubut. The small, bell-like flowers and linear leaves give the shrub an Erica-like appearance. Common names in its native Argentina: ''quila'' or ''quilla'' (Spanish ''quilla'' translates as "keel" but the plant name may be a Mapuche language homonym with an entirely different meaning).
*'' Calibrachoa'' Cerv. ex La Llave & Lex 32 neotropical species segregated from ''Petunia''.
*''Petunia'' ( Juss.) Wijsman 18 species from South America.
*'' Plowmania'' Hunz. & Subils monotypic genus with only 1 species, ''Plowmania nyctaginoides'' (Standl.) Hunz. & Subils., (common name Chiapas red trumpet) endemic to the Montane rainforests of southern Mexico and Guatemala. A small, scandent shrub with large and attractive flame-coloured flowers (somewhat reminiscent of those of the better-known ornamental '' Ipomoea coccinea''), cultivated as an ornamental in the United States. First classified as a ''Brunfelsia'' (synonym ''B. nyctaginoides'' Standl). The genus ''Plowmania'' is named in honour of ethnobotanist and expert on the genus '' Brunfelsia,'' Timothy Plowman (1944–1989).

The Patagonian genera ''Benthamiella'', ''Combera'' and ''Pantacantha'' merit referral from subfamily Petunioideae to subfamily Goetzeoideae of the Solanaceae.

Ornamental use

The genera ''Brunfelsia'', ''Plowmania'', ''Fabiana'', ''Nierembergia'' and ''Petunia'' furnish garden plants bearing attractive flowers. ''Brunfelsia'' and ''Plowmania'' are genera of tropical shrubs requiring glasshouse protection in temperate climate areas; ''Fabiana'' species are hardy shrubs; ''Nierembergia'' species are dwarf, hardy herbaceous perennials or sub-shrubs, and ''Petunia × atkinsiana'' has yielded a huge variety of flower colours, forms and patterns that have made it a favourite summer bedding plant. ''Petunia'' is by far the best-known genus of the subfamily in popular temperate zone horticulture.

Medicinal use

'' Fabiana imbricata'' (Chilean vernacular name ''pichi'') is used as a diuretic and digestive in the folk medicine of Chile. Studies have revealed it to contain sesquiterpenes possessing gastroprotective properties.

A number of ''Brunfelsia'' species have played important roles in the folk medicine of peoples indigenous to South America, having been used to treat conditions as diverse as syphilis, rheumatism, yellow fever and snakebite. The roots are the most effective parts of the plants and possess diuretic and sweat-inducing properties.
Medications prepared from ''Brunfelsia'' species have the curious effect of producing the sensation of chills, this being the rationale for their folk use in the treatment of fevers.Schultes, Richard Evans; Hofmann, Albert (1979). ''The Botany and Chemistry of Hallucinogens'' (2nd ed.). Springfield Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, pps. 278-283.

Hallucinogenic use

Species belonging to the genera ''Brunfelsia'', and ''Petunia'' have been employed as entheogens in South America, while the species ''Nierembergia hippomanica'' has been reported to have toxic and hallucinogen-like effects upon horses and to have similarities in its chemistry to that of the genus ''Brunfelsia''. The chemistry of ''Nierembergia hippomanica'' is most unusual for that of a plant belonging to the Solanaceae, in that the species contains (among other classes of toxic compounds) phenethylamine proto-alkaloids more usually associated with cacti and grasses: β-Phenylethylamine, N-Methyltyramine, tyramine, and hordenine have been isolated from it.

The unusual epithet ''hippomanica'' is a compound of the Greek elements ("hippos") ''horse'' and ("mania") ''insanity'' / ''frenzy'' – hence "sending horses insane". Botanist John Miers references in the species name a plant ''hippomanes'' of uncertain identity mentioned in the idyll of Theocritus and the works of Theophrastus – so called either because horses were madly fond of it, or because it sent them mad if they fed upon it. The Greek name ''hippomanes'' was also referenced in the creation of the genus name '' Hippomane'' for an extremely toxic genus in the Euphorbiaceae.

'' Petunia violacea'' Lindl. has been reported to be used as a hallucinogen in Ecuador, where it has the vernacular name ''shanín''. The drug is said to cause sensations of levitation and flight – a type of hallucination often associated with the use of the more toxic hallucinogenic plants of the deliriant type, e.g. the tropane-containing ''Atropa'' and ''Hyoscyamus'' – active constituents of the witches' flying ointments.Schultes, Richard Evans ''Hallucinogenic Plants a Golden Guide'', pub. Golden Press N.Y., 1976, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number : 74-21666, page 150.

Gallery

File:Benthamiella patagonica 150418.jpg, ''Benthamiella patagonica'', a highly ornamental, caespitose hardy alpine from Patagonia.
File:Starr 060325-6728 Brunfelsia australis.jpg, '' Brunfelsia australis'': part of the ornamental value of ''Brunfelsia'' lies in the colour changes occurring in the flowers as they age.
File:Fabiana imbricata (8705446662).jpg, '' Fabiana imbricata'' ''f. violacea'': the curious genus ''Fabiana'' includes species bearing a remarkable likeness to plants of the unrelated genus ''Erica''.
File:Fabiana imbricata HRM2.jpg, Growth habit of '' Fabiana imbricata'', showing similarity to that of the '' Erica arborea''.
File:Nierembergia scoparia - Floraison.jpg, '' Nierembergia scoparia'' the broom-leaved cup flower, an attractive ornamental.
File:Nierembergia repens (8706452666).jpg, '' Nierembergia repens'' the creeping cup flower, a dwarf hardy perennial with large flowers – relative to its size.
File:Calibrachoa parviflora.jpg, '' Calibrachoa parviflora'': tiny flower and much-reduced hairy leaves seen in extreme close-up.
File:Petunia axillaris (18740257338).jpg, ''Petunia axillaris'': one of the two parent species of the popular summer bedding plant ''Petunia × atkinsiana''.

References

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Asterid subfamilies