CYTOLOGICAL AND PHYTOCHEMICAL ASPECTS OF SOLANUM NIGRUM LINN. COMPLEX – A REVIEW

In the present study the plant Solanum nigrum L. complex is studied by referring to the literature already available to find out the gap available in the study. It was clear from the already published work on this plant that ample amount of work has been done on taxonomy, cytology and medicinal properties but a correlation for these properties form Punjab region has been missing from the literature. This has become the area of interest as it could be highly useful to correlate amount of phytochemical compounds which are important for medicinal properties with cytological characteristics. It can help to conclude that which cytotype of this plant is medicinally more useful of the known three cytotypes i.e. diploid, tetraploid and hexaploid cytotypes. From surveying the available work, black nightshade can be concluded to be actually a complex of various cytotypes, of which one or more could be medicinally more efficient as being better producers of phytochemicals. This fact could be exploited in pharmaceutical industry in future.