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 '' - Brazilian species, grown as pot-plant in glasshouse,
Chelsea Physic Garden 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.
Hallucinogenic use Species belonging to the genera
Brunfelsia, and
Petunia have been employed as
entheogens in South America, 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. ==Gallery==