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Most members of the Solanaceae family are poisonous due to the presence of tropane or steroid alkaloids. The family is the source of many pharmaceutical drugs including several narcotics. Nicotiana (tobacco), Atropa (belladonna), Datura (jimsonweed), and Solanum (nightshade) all belong to the Solanaceae. Yet the family also provides many food crops: Capsicum spp. (green and hot peppers), Solanum (tomato, eggplant, and potato), and Physalis (tomatillo). A few Solanaceae are ornamentals, the most important of which is Petunia.

The Solanaceae are generally herbs, shrubs, or vines with alternate, non-stipulate, simple to pinnately-dissected leaves. The flowers generally have 5 sepals, 5 petals and 5 stamens. The petals are fused into a tubular corolla onto which the stamens are attached. The anthers are sometimes fused. There are generally 2 fused carpels forming a superior ovary. The fruit is usually a berry or a capsule.