Yellow-fruit nightshade

Solanum virginianum, also called Surattense nightshade, yellow-fruit nightshade, yellow-berried nightshade, Thai green eggplant, Thai striped eggplant (from the unripe fruit), is also known as Indian night shade or yellow berried night shade plant, the common name is Kantakari, Solanumsurattense Brum. f. and Solanum xanthocarpum Schrad. and Wendl. are synonyms of Solanum virginianum L. (Sharma et al., 2010). It is also a medicinal plant used mostly in India. Some part of the plant is poisonous ex. the fruit which is poisonous.
Description.
Plant body.
Thorny Nightshade is a herb which is erect, sometimes woody at base, 50–70 cm tall, copiously armed with sturdy, needlelike, broad-based prickles 0.5–2 cm × 0.5–1.5 mm.
Leaves.
Leaves are unequal paired; stalk 2–3.5 cm, prickly; leaf blade ovate-oblong, 4–9 × 2–4.5 cm, prickly along veins, margin usually 5–9-lobed or pinnately parted, lobes unequal, sinuate, apex acute.
Inflorescence.
Inflorescence elongate racemes 4–7 cm. Sepal tube is bell-shaped 1 cm in diameter.
Flowers.
Flowers blue-purple, 1.4–1.6 × 2.5 cm; petals ovate-deltate, 6–8 mm, densely pubescent with stellate hairs. Filaments 1 mm; anthers 8 mm. Style 1 cm.
Fruits.
Fruiting pedicel 2–3.6 cm, with prickles and sparse stellate hairs. Fruiting sepals prickly, sparsely pubescent. Berry pale yellow, 1.3–2.2 cm in diameter. The ripe yellow fruits are around 3 cm in diameter. Flowering normally appears around November to May.
Occurrence.
This plant is cultivated in Himalayas, South-East Malaysia, Australia, and Polynesia region. The plant is found well versed in India, often in waste places, on roadsides and in open space.
Medicine.
The plant has many medical properties. In the tribes of Nilgiris, the plant is used to treat a whitlow (finger abscess): the finger is inserted into a ripe fruit for a few minutes. In Nepal, a decoction of root is taken twice a day for seven days to treat cough, asthma and chest pain.
Ayurvedic Physicians commonly used the drugs of Dashmula in their private practice. Dashmula comprises root of five trees (brihat panchmula) and root of five small herbs (laghu panchmula). Deep study in Ayurveda indicate that out of 33 species of Solanum from family Solanaceae, two species are used in “Dashmula” such as Solanum anguivi Lam. (Bruhati) and Solanum virginianum L. (Kantkari) (Sharma, 2006). The tribals and villagers also used the drugs of Dashmula group for their common ailments. It is estimated that about 8000 metric tons of roots of Dashmula are used annually by Ayurvedic industry in Maharashtra.
Heble et al., (1968) chemically isolated, crystallized, diosgenin and beta cytosterol constituents from Solanum virginianumL. Further they reported the presence of triterpenes like Tupeol. Heble et al., (1971) noted the presence of coumarins, scopolin, scopoletin, esculin and esculetin from plant parts of Solanum virginianum through column chromatography. Hussain et al., (2010) in addition to alkaloids content also determined the presence of flavoinoids and saponin apart from the presence of tolerable level of heavy metals like Cu, Fe, Pb, Cd and Zn. Shankaret al., (2011) reported and quantified bioactive steroidal glycoalkaloid khasianine in addition to solanine and solasomargine through HPTLC. Apigenin showed antiallergic while diosgenin exhibited anti – inflammatory effects (Singh et al., 2010). The leaf extract inhibit the growth of pathogenic organisms. (Seeba, 2009). Tanusak Changbanjong et al., (2010) reported the effect of crude extract of Solanum verginianum against snails and mosquito larvae.
Solanum virginianum L. (Kantkari) is useful in bronchial asthma (Govindan et al., 1999). Krayer and Briggs (1950) reported the antiaccelerator cardiac action of solasodine and some of its derivatives. The plant possesses antiurolthiatic and natriuretic activities. (Patel et al., 2010). A decoction of the fruits of the plant is used for treatment of diabetes (Nadkarni, 1954). Solanum virginianum L. herb is useful in cough, chest pain, against vomiting, hair fall, leprosy, itching scabies, skin diseases and cardiac diseases associated with edema (Kumar et al., 2010).
Roots decoction is used as fabrige, effective diuretic and expectorant. It is diuretic useful in the treatment of catarrhal, fever, cough, asthma, and chest pain (Ghani, 1996). Root paste is utilized by the Mukundara tribals of Rajasthan for the treatment of hernia as well as in flatulence and constipation. Stem, flower and fruits are prescribed for relief in burning sensation in the feed. Leaves are applied locally to relieve body or muscle pains, while its juice mixed with black pepper is advised for rheumatism (Nadkarni, 1954). Fruit juice is useful in sore throats and rheumatism. A decoction of the fruits of the plant is used by tribal and rural people of Orissa for the treatment of diabetes (Nadkarni, 1954). Smoking the seeds of the dried solanum virginanum in a biri warp is said to allay toothache and tooth decay in Indian folk medicine.
"In-vitro" antioxidant and "in-vivo" Antimutagenic properties of "Solanum xanthocarpum" seed extracts, the preliminary qualitative phytochemical screening was done which reveal the presence of polyphenols, flavonoids, glycoside, alkaloids, carbohydrates, and reducing sugar etc. Based preliminary qualitative phytochemical screening, Quantitative estimation of polyphenols was performed, quantitative estimation alcoholic extract found significant amounts of polyphenols as compare to aqueous extract. "In-vitro" antioxidants was performed by two method DDPH and superoxide radical scavenging method, the alcoholic extract shows significant antioxidant properties as compare to aqueous extract, based on polyphenols and antioxidant properties alcoholic extracts was used for the antimutagenic (clastogenic) test. Alcoholic extract produced significant result in antimutagenic activity. 
References.
https://clinphytoscience.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40816-020-00229-1