Solanum americanum |
Solanum carolinense |
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American black nightshade, American black or common or West Indian nightshade, glossy nightshade, little white nightshade, small-flower nightshade, white nightshade |
apple of sodom, bull nettle, Carolina horse-nettle, Carolina nightshade, devil's tomato, horse nettle |
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Habit | Herbs to subshrubs, annual to perennial, erect, unarmed, to 1.5 m, glabrate to moderately pubescent, hairs whitish, unbranched, to 1 mm, eglandular. | Herbs or shrubs, perennial, erect, sparsely to moderately armed, to 1.2 m, prickles cream to yellowish, straight, to 6 mm, sparsely to densely pubescent, hairs white to cream, sessile to short-stalked, stellate, 4(–8)-rayed, central ray 1–3(–5)-celled and to 3 mm, longer than lateral rays. | ||||
Leaves | 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 0.4–4 cm; blade simple, ovate, lanceolate, or elliptic, 2–15 × 2–10 cm, margins subentire, sinuate, or lobed with 1–4 lobes per side, sometimes very deeply lobed almost to midrib, lobe margins entire to coarsely lobed, base cuneate. |
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Inflorescences | extra-axillary or leaf-opposed, unbranched, usually umbel-like, 3–10-flowered, 0.5–3 cm. |
extra-axillary, unbranched or rarely forked, 2–12-flowered, 2–9 cm. |
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Pedicels | erect or spreading, 0.3–1 cm in flower, to 1.5 cm in fruit. |
0.5–1 cm in flower, 1.2–1.8 cm and curved downward in fruit. |
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Flowers | 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 or with sparse prickles, 5–8 mm, moderately stellate-pubescent, lobes lanceolate to elliptic-acuminate; corolla white to pale blue or violet, stellate to stellate-pentagonal or rotate-stellate, 2–3 cm diam., with interpetalar tissue at margins and bases of lobes; stamens equal; anthers narrow and tapered, 4.5–6.5 mm, dehiscent by terminal pores; ovary glabrous or sparsely to moderately glandular-puberulent, rarely moderately pubescent, hairs white, stellate or simple. |
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Berries | shiny purplish black, globose, 0.5–1 cm diam., glabrous, with (0–)2–4(–6) sclerotic granules, usually 2–4 larger and 2 smaller. |
light green with darker green mottling or pale greenish white, turning bright yellow, subglobose to depressed-globose, 1–2 × 1–1.8 cm, glabrous, without sclerotic granules. |
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Seeds | pale yellow to brown, 1–1.5 × 0.5–1.5 mm, minutely pitted. |
yellow, flattened, 1.7–2.4 × 1.6–1.8 mm, minutely pitted. |
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2n | = 24. |
= 24. |
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Solanum americanum |
Solanum carolinense |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Nov (year-round in Fla.). | |||||
Habitat | Weedy habitats, secondary forest, disturbed areas. | |||||
Elevation | 0–1000(–2000) m. (0–3300(–6600) ft.) | |||||
Distribution |
AL; AZ; CA; FL; GA; LA; MO; MS; OR; SC; TX; UT; WA; BC; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in Europe, Asia, Africa, Pacific Islands, Australia]
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North America [Introduced in Europe, Asia, Pacific Islands (New Zealand), Australia]
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Discussion | 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.) |
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 14. | FNA vol. 14. | ||||
Parent taxa | Solanaceae > Solanum | Solanaceae > Solanum | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | S. nigrum var. americanum, S. nigrum var. nodiflorum, S. nodiflorum, S. ptychanthum | |||||
Name authority | Miller: Gard. Dict. ed. 8 Solanum no. 5. (1768) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 187. (1753) | ||||
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