Solanum mauritianum |
Solanum perplexum |
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earleaf nightshade |
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Habit | Shrubs or small trees, erect, unarmed, 2–12 m, densely pubescent, hairs white, sessile to long-stalked, stellate to echinoid. | Herbs, perennial, erect, sparsely to moderately armed, to 1 m, prickles cream to yellowish, straight or slightly curved, to 15 mm, nearly glabrous or sparsely to densely pubescent, hairs yellowish, sessile to short-stalked, stellate, (4–)6–8-rayed, central ray 1–2-celled and longer than lateral rays. |
Leaves | petiolate; petiole 1–8 cm; blade simple, elliptic to ovate, 11–31 × 4–14 cm, margins entire, base acute, often with smaller axillary leaves. |
petiolate; petiole 1–6 cm; blade simple, broadly ovate, 7–22 × 8–18 cm, margins shallowly to deeply lobed with 2–5 lobes per side, lobe margins entire to coarsely lobed, base truncate to cuneate and often oblique. |
Inflorescences | terminal, becoming leaf-opposed, much-branched, 50–100-flowered, 5–24 cm. |
extra-axillary, forked to several times branched, to 15-flowered, 7–15 cm. |
Pedicels | erect and 0.2–0.5 cm in flower and fruit. |
1–2 cm in flower, curved downward and to ca. 2.4 cm in fruit. |
Flowers | radially symmetric; calyx slightly accrescent, unarmed, 4–7.5 mm, densely pubescent, lobes deltate; corolla purple, stellate-pentagonal, 1–1.5 cm diam., with abundant interpetalar tissue; stamens equal; anthers oblong, 2–3.5 mm, dehiscent by terminal pores that open into longitudinal slits; ovary tomentose. |
radially symmetric; calyx not accrescent, unarmed or sparsely prickled, 7–13 mm, densely stellate-pubescent, lobes ovate-lanceolate; corolla lavender, stellate to stellate-pentagonal or rotate-stellate, 2–4.4 cm diam., with sparse to moderate interpetalar tissue at margins and base of lobes; stamens equal; anthers narrow and tapered, 4–10 mm, dehiscent by terminal pores; ovary glabrous. |
Berries | yellow, globose, 1–1.5 cm diam., tomentose, without sclerotic granules. |
yellow, subglobose, 1.8–3.5 × 2–4 cm, glabrous, without sclerotic granules. |
Seeds | yellowish brown, flattened, 1.5–2.5 × 1.5–2 mm, minutely pitted. |
yellow, flattened, ca. 2 × 2.5 mm, minutely pitted. |
2n | = 24. |
= ca. 72. |
Solanum mauritianum |
Solanum perplexum |
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Phenology | Flowering Mar–Jul. | Flowering May–Aug. |
Habitat | Disturbed sites. | Disturbed areas, peanut and cotton fields, roadsides, grazed pastures, urban waste areas. |
Elevation | 0–500 m. (0–1600 ft.) | 90–200 m. (300–700 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; FL; South America (Brazil, Uruguay) [Introduced also in Asia (India), Africa, Atlantic Islands, Indian Ocean Islands, Pacific Islands, Australia] |
AL; FL; GA; MS |
Discussion | In Florida, Solanum mauritianum has become naturalized and common only at one site in Pasco County. It also occurs frequently in southern California from Santa Barbara south to San Diego with urban waifs in the Bay Area. It appears to be spreading into relatively undisturbed riparian areas in the San Gabriel Mountains and may become a widespread pest. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Solanum perplexum is similar to S. dimidiatum and was placed in synonymy with S. dimidiatum by W. G. D’Arcy (1974). The two species can be distinguished by their indumentum [golden stellate hairs with six to eight (rarely as few as four) lateral rays with the central ray one- or two-celled and longer than lateral rays in S. perplexum versus whitish stellate hairs with six to ten (rarely as few as four) lateral rays with the central ray one-celled and equal to or shorter than lateral rays in S. dimidiatum], the larger prickles on the stems and leaves (up to 15 mm in S. perplexum versus up to 6.5 mm in S. dimidiatum), and the larger leaves (up to 22 × 18 cm in S. perplexum versus up to 16 × 10 cm in S. dimidiatum). Solanum perplexum occurs mainly in the region where the borders of Alabama, Florida, and Georgia meet, with a single outlying population known from western Mississippi. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 14. | FNA vol. 14. |
Parent taxa | Solanaceae > Solanum | Solanaceae > Solanum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | S. auriculatum | |
Name authority | Scopoli: Delic. Fl. Faun. Insubr. 3: 16, plate 8. (1788) | Small: Man. S. E. Fl., 1115, 1508. (1933) |
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