Solanum furcatum
Solanum pseudogracile
coast nightshade, fork nightshade
glowing nightshade
petiolate;
petiole 1–3.5 cm;
blade simple, ovate-lanceolate, 3–10 × 2–5 cm, margins entire to sinuate-dentate, base cuneate to truncate.
petiolate;
petiole 0.5–3 cm;
blade simple, elliptic to lanceolate, 1.5–8 × 1–4 cm, margins entire or nearly so, base cuneate to attenuate.
extra-axillary, forked, umbel-like or racemelike, 6–14-flowered, 1.5–3 cm.
extra-axillary, unbranched or rarely forked, umbel-like, 3–8-flowered, 1–2 cm.
straight and spreading and 0.5–1 cm in flower, strongly reflexed and 0.5–1 cm in fruit.
0.5–1 cm in flower and fruit, recurved to reflexed in fruit.
radially symmetric;
calyx not accrescent, unarmed, 3–4 mm, sparsely pubescent, lobes obtuse;
corolla white to pale purple with yellowish or greenish central star, stellate, 1–2 cm diam., with sparse interpetalar tissue;
stamens equal;
anthers ellipsoidal, 2.5–3.5 mm, dehiscent by terminal pores that open into longitudinal slits;
ovary glabrous.
radially symmetric;
calyx not accrescent, unarmed, 1.5–3 mm, sparsely pubescent, lobes deltate, reflexed in fruit;
corolla white with yellowish central star, stellate, 1–1.5 cm diam., with sparse interpetalar tissue;
stamens equal;
anthers ellipsoidal, 2–3 mm, dehiscent by terminal pores that open into longitudinal slits;
ovary glabrous.
dull green to purple, globose, 0.5–0.9 cm diam., glabrous, with 6–14 sclerotic granules per fruit.
dull purplish black, globose, 0.5–1.5 cm diam., glabrous, without (or rarely with 2) sclerotic granules.
pale yellow to light brown, flattened, 1.5–2 × 1–1.5 mm, finely reticulate.
pale yellow, flattened, 1–1.3 × 0.8–0.9 mm, minutely pitted.
= 72.
= 24.
Solanum furcatum
Solanum pseudogracile
Solanum furcatum is found in coastal environments in the western United States. M. Nee (1993) stated that the name S. gayanum (J. Remy) F. Philippi has been misapplied to plants of S. furcatum, but no basis can be found for this assertion and the two species are morphologically very different. Solanum gayanum, a synonym of S. crispum Ruiz & Pavon, and native to Chile, is cultivated and perhaps naturalized in San Francisco, California (P. A. Munz 1968).
Solanum furcatum can be distinguished from the similar and sympatric S. douglasii by its usually forked inflorescences and fruits with usually more than ten sclerotic granules. A distinctive character of S. furcatum is the long style that is about twice the length of the anthers.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Solanum pseudogracile is very similar to and perhaps not distinct from S. chenopodioides. It is ecologically distinctive, occurring in sand dunes and salt marshes of the Atlantic and eastern Gulf Coastal Plain and inland in some parts of Florida and Georgia.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
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Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
LA Plants
