potato family n 1: large and economically important family of herbs or shrubs or trees often strongly scented and sometimes narcotic or poisonous; includes the genera Solanum, Atropa, Brugmansia, Capsicum, Datura, Hyoscyamus, Lycopersicon, Nicotiana, Petunia, Physalis, and Solandra [syn: {Solanaceae}, {family Solanaceae}, {potato family}]