Bicarpellary

lants belonging to the Solanaceae family, also known as nightshades, are a group of flowering plants that includes annual and perennial herbs as well as vining and liana plants, epiphytes, shrubs, and trees. The Solanaceae also includes a variety of crops, medicinal plants, spices, weeds, and ornamentals. 

Numerous plants belong to this family that contain strong alkaloids, some of which are dangerous to humans, yet many of them—such as tomato plants, eggplant plants, bell pepper plants, and chilli pepper plants—are cultivated for their edible qualities. The family is a member of the order Solanales, which is a member of the asterid group and the class Magnoliopsida (dicotyledons). The Solanaceae family contains approximately 2,700 species each with a unique range of environments, morphology, and ecology.

Solanaceae

The Solanaceae family gets its name from the genus Solanum. The origin of the Latin word is not known for certain. One explanation for the name is that certain solanaceous flowers are thought to resemble the sun and its rays, hence the name. Solanum is a plant genus that includes at least one species known as the “sunberry.” The name could also be derived from the Latin verb solare, which means “to soothe”.

The family has a global distribution, with members living on all continents except Antarctica. It is in South and Central America that you will find the highest diversity of species on the planet. Physalis infinemundi, a fossil tomatillo discovered in the Patagonian region of Argentina and dated to 52 million years B.P., was the subject of a scientific paper published in 2017 describing its finding and examination. The discovery has moved the date of the first emergence of the plant family Solanaceae back thousands of years 

Examples of Solanaceae 

The Solanaceae family has a variety of plants that are regularly harvested or farmed. The potato (S. tuberosum another popular name for the family is the “potato family”), the tomato (S. lycopersicum), and the eggplant or aubergine (S. Lycopersicum) are the most economically important members of the Solanum genus (S. melongena). Capsicum, another major genus, is responsible for the production of both chilli peppers and bell peppers.

A variety of fruits and vegetables are produced by the Physalis genus, including groundcherries (Physalis philadelphica), tomatillos (Physalis peruviana (Cape gooseberry), and the alkekengi (Physalis alkekengi) (Chinese lantern). The boxthorns and the goji berry, Lycium barbarum, are both members of the genus Lycium. Nicotiana is the genus that contains, among other things, tobacco. In addition to these attractive plants, the Solanaceae family contains a variety of key sources of psychoactive alkaloids, including Datura, Mandragora (mandrake), and Atropa belladonna, which is all members of the genus Solanaceae (deadly nightshade). Various species are well-known for their medical use, psychoactive effects, and toxic properties, among other things. 

Bicarpellary meaning

A gynoecium with two carpels (of an ovary) is referred to as a bicarpellary gynoecium. Oblique ovary refers to an ovary that is angled in a diagonal plane. It is found in the Solanaceae family. 

Bicarpellary ovary 

Although most flowers are hermaphrodites, some are monoecious, andromonoecious, or dioecious (such as some Solanum or Symonanthus). Pollination is carried by entomophilous. Flowers may be solitary or inflorescences may be terminal, cymose, or axillary. The flowers are medium in size and are either fragrant (Nicotiana), foetid (Anthocercis), or odourless (Anthocercis). Typically, flowers are actinomorphic, mildly zygomorphic, or significantly zygomorphic (for example, in flowers with a bilabial corolla in Schizanthus species). Symmetry abnormalities can be caused by the androecium, the perianth, or both. The flowers of the vast majority of species contain a distinct perianth with a calyx and corolla (each with five sepals and five petals), an androecium with five stamens and two carpels producing the gynoecium with a superior ovary (they are therefore referred to as pentamers and tetracyclic). Stamens are epipetalous and occur in multiples of four or five, most frequently four or eight. Typically, they have a hypogynous disc. The calyx is gamosepalous (the sepals are linked to create a tube), with an equal number of segments, five lobes that are shorter than the tube, persistent, and frequently accrescent. Typically, the corolla contains five petals that are linked together to form a tube. 

The androecium has free stamens that are opposite sepals (that is, they alternate with the petals), typically fertile, or have staminodes in some situations (for example, in Salpiglossideae). In the latter condition, one staminode (Salpiglossis) or three staminodes are commonly present (Schizanthus). The anthers are either fully free, dorsifixed, or basifixed via poricide dehiscence or minor longitudinal fractures. Filiform or flat filaments can be found on stamens. Stamens can be either inserted or exserted into the coralline tube. Microsporogenesis occurs concurrently in these plants, and the microspores are tetrad, tetrahedral, or isobilateral in shape. At the time of dehiscence, pollen grains are bicellular, open, and angular in shape.

The gynoecium is bicarpelar with the superior ovary and two locules that may be divided secondary by false septa, as is the case with Nicandreae and Datureae. The gynoecium is positioned asymmetrically concerning the median plane of the flower. They possess a single style and a single stigma, which is either simple or bilobate in shape. Each locule contains between one and fifty anatropous or hemianatropous anatropous ovules with axillary placentation.

Conclusion 

When two carpels are present, this is referred to as bicarpellary. Syncarpous gynoecium occurs when the carpels unite. When the placenta is positioned axially and the ovules are linked to it in a multilocular ovary, the placentation is said to be axile.