''Solanum paniculatum'', commonly known as jurubeba, is a

nightshade The Solanaceae , or nightshades, are a family of flowering plants that ranges from annual and perennial herbs to vines, lianas, epiphytes, shrubs, and trees, and includes a number of agricultural crops, medicinal plants, spices, weeds, and orna ...

common in almost all of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. It is used as a

medicinal plant Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including defense and protection a ...

and has a bitter taste. An

infusion Infusion is the process of extracting chemical compounds or flavors from plant material in a solvent such as water, oil or alcohol, by allowing the material to remain suspended in the solvent over time (a process often called steeping). An i ...

of its

stem Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushr ...

and its

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stal ...

alcohol (

cachaça ''Cachaça'' () is a distilled spirit made from fermented sugarcane juice. Also known as ''pinga'', ''caninha'', and other names, it is the most popular spirit among distilled alcoholic beverages in Brazil.Cavalcante, Messias Soares. Todos os n ...

) is popularly used as an apéritif or a digestif.

Synonyms

Well known in its native range, this species has been described time and again under different now-invalid names. Some of these are

homonym In linguistics, homonyms are words which are homographs (words that share the same spelling, regardless of pronunciation), or homophones (equivocal words, that share the same pronunciation, regardless of spelling), or both. Using this definition, ...

s of other ''Solanum''

taxa In biology, a taxon ( back-formation from '' taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular n ...

.Solanaceae Source (2008) * ''Solanum belfort'' Vand. * ''Solanum belfortianum'' Dunal * ''Solanum botelhianum'' Dunal (unjustified emendation) * ''Solanum botelho'' Vand. * ''Solanum chloroleucum'' Dunal * ''Solanum dictyoticum'' Roem. & Schult. * ''Solanum jubeba'' Vell. * ''Solanum macronema'' Sendtn. * ''Solanum manoelii'' Moric. * ''Solanum reticulatum'' Willd. ex Roem. & Schult. :''Solanum reticulatum'' of

de Jussieu De Jussieu, the name of a French family which came into prominence towards the close of the sixteenth century, and was known for a century and a half for the botanists it produced. The following are its more eminent members: *Antoine de Jussieu ( ...

from Dunal in

de Candolle Augustin Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (, , ; 4 February 17789 September 1841) was a Swiss botanist. René Louiche Desfontaines launched de Candolle's botanical career by recommending him at a herbarium. Within a couple of years de Candoll ...

is '' S. vellozianum''. :''Solanum reticulatum'' of Dunal in

Poiret Poiret is a French language surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Jean Poiret, French author * Jean Louis Georges Poiret, former Lieutenant-Governor of Guinea *Jean Louis Marie Poiret, French clergyman, botanist, and explorer * Jeanne ...

is '' S. crotonoides'' as described by

Lamarck Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (1 August 1744 – 18 December 1829), often known simply as Lamarck (; ), was a French naturalist, biologist, academic, and soldier. He was an early proponent of the idea that biolog ...

* ''Solanum rothelianum'' Steud. (''

lapsus In philology, a lapsus (Latin for "lapse, slip, error") is an involuntary mistake made while writing or speaking. Investigations In 1895 an investigation into verbal slips was undertaken by a philologist and a psychologist, Rudolf Meringer and ...

'') Two varieties were once recognized, but they are not generally considered valid anymore: * ''Solanum paniculatum var. ellipticum'' Chodat :Not to be confused with '' S. ellipticum'', described by

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model use ...

. The ''S. ellipticum'' of de Conceição Vellozo refers to '' S. cylindricum''. * ''Solanum paniculatum var. integrifolium'' Dunal :Not to be confused with the ''S. integrifolium'' of Poiret, which refers to '' S. aethiopicum'' Similar nightshade species that were once included with ''S. paniculatum'' but are now considered distinct are: * ''

Solanum pseudoauriculatum ''Solanum'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, which include three food crops of high economic importance: the potato, the tomato and the eggplant (aubergine, brinjal). It is the largest genus in the nightshade family Solana ...

'' (as f. ''flavescens'' or ssp. ''pseudoauriculatum'') * '' Solanum acutilobum'' (as var. ''acutilobum'') * '' Solanum albidum'' Dunal (as var. ''chulumani'')

References

Footnotes

* (2008)
''Solanum paniculatum''
Version of February 2008. Retrieved 2008-SEP-25. paniculatum Flora of Brazil Flora of the Cerrado Medicinal plants {{solanales-stub