Solanum americanum
Solanum aviculare
American black nightshade, American black or common or West Indian nightshade, glossy nightshade, little white nightshade, small-flower nightshade, white nightshade
New Zealand nightshade
petiolate;
petiole 1–4 cm;
blade simple, ovate to ovate-elliptic, 2–10.5 × 1–4.5 cm, margins entire or shallowly sinuate-dentate, base decurrent.
petiolate;
petiole 1–1.5 cm;
blade simple, elliptic, 10–30 × 2–15 cm, margins entire or coarsely pinnatifid with 1–3 lobes per side, lobe margins entire, base cuneate.
extra-axillary or leaf-opposed, unbranched, usually umbel-like, 3–10-flowered, 0.5–3 cm.
leaf-opposed or in branch fork, unbranched or forked, to 10-flowered, to 15 cm.
erect or spreading, 0.3–1 cm in flower, to 1.5 cm in fruit.
1.5–2 cm in flower and fruit.
radially symmetric;
calyx somewhat accrescent, unarmed, 1–3 mm, lobes deltate, strongly reflexed in fruit;
corolla white, sometimes with yellowish central star, stellate, 0.4–0.8 cm diam., without interpetalar tissue;
stamens equal;
anthers ellipsoidal, 0.7–1.5 mm, dehiscent by terminal pores that open into longitudinal slits;
ovary glabrous.
radially symmetric;
calyx somewhat accrescent, unarmed, 3–4 mm, glabrous, lobes deltate;
corolla blue to deep purple, rotate-stellate, lobes acute at apex, 3–4 cm diam., with abundant interpetalar tissue;
stamens equal;
anthers oblong, slightly tapered, 3–4 mm, dehiscent by terminal pores that sometimes open into longitudinal slits;
ovary glabrous.
shiny purplish black, globose, 0.5–1 cm diam., glabrous, with (0–)2–4(–6) sclerotic granules, usually 2–4 larger and 2 smaller.
bright orange to red, obovoid to ellipsoidal, 1.5–2 × 1–1.5 cm, glabrous, with sclerotic granules inconspicuous to absent.
pale yellow to brown, 1–1.5 × 0.5–1.5 mm, minutely pitted.
reddish brown, flattened, 1.5–2 × 1.5–2 mm, finely reticulate.
= 24.
= 46.
Solanum americanum
Solanum aviculare
Solanum americanum is a morphologically variable and globally distributed weedy species. It has often been confused with other species in the black nightshade group such as S. emulans, S. nigrescens, S. nigrum, and S. pseudogracile and has often been referred to as S. nodiflorum in floristic treatments. It is distinguished by its very short anthers and shiny black mature fruits with strongly reflexed calyx lobes and usually two to four (rarely none or as many as six) sclerotic granules per fruit. Leaf shape and pubescence can vary considerably throughout its range, and there are some suspected cases of introgression with other species such as S. nigrescens or S. pseudogracile. The name S. nigrum has been misapplied to S. americanum (for example, A. E. Radford et al. 1968).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
The name Solanum laciniatum Aiton has been misapplied to S. aviculare (for example, M. Nee 1993). Although only S. aviculare is listed in that treatment as occurring in California, both S. aviculare and S. laciniatum apparently are found there, and most photos labeled S. aviculare on the CalFlora website are of S. laciniatum. Solanum laciniatum has notched and ruffled corolla lobes with abundant interpetalar tissue (versus acute and entire corolla lobes with little interpetalar tissue in S. aviculare) and yellow fruits (versus red) with numerous stone cells (versus stone cells inconspicuous to absent).
Solanum aviculare and S. laciniatum have been introduced from Australia and New Zealand as ornamentals and now are found in scattered localities in California, especially near the coast. Some plants have escaped and become naturalized, and these species have the potential to be invasive in the future.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
- Local floras:
BC, 
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
LA Plants, 
MO Plants, 
PNW Herbaria 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
