Indian Journal of Plant Genetic Resources

Solanum incanum L. and S. insanum L., two Indian wild and weedy forms of spinous Solanums, are closely related to S. melongena, the cultivated eggplant or brinjal. Evidence from light and scanning electron microscopy of the seed supports their close phylogenetic relationship. The three are nearly identical in the shape and size of the seed, the hilum and the seed epidermal cells. Seeds of “S. melongena var. potangi” on the other hand, have distinctly different morphology. This form of disputed taxonomic validity and uncertain identity is probably not available among the phylogenetically close relatives of eggplant.