Solanum mauritianum |
Solanum tenuipes |
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earleaf nightshade |
fancy 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, spreading, moderately to densely armed, 0.2–0.5 m, prickles pale, straight, to 8 mm, glabrate to sparsely or moderately pubescent, hairs unbranched, glandular or eglandular, abaxial leaf surfaces with some sessile stellate hairs, 4–6-rayed, central ray equal to 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 2–6 cm; blade simple to 2–3 times lobed to compound, broadly ovate to elliptic, 4–9 × 2–7 cm, margins 2–3 times lobed to 2–3 times divided with 2–3 main leaflets per side, leaflets lobed to pinnately dissected, base truncate. |
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Inflorescences | terminal, becoming leaf-opposed, much-branched, 50–100-flowered, 5–24 cm. |
extra-axillary, unbranched, 6–9-flowered, 4–9 cm. |
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Pedicels | erect and 0.2–0.5 cm in flower and fruit. |
1–2 cm in flower, erect and 2–3 cm in fruit. |
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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. |
bilaterally symmetric; calyx accrescent and almost completely and tightly covering fruit, moderately to densely prickly, 4–6 mm, sparsely to moderately pubescent, lobes linear to lanceolate; corolla violet or blue, stellate, 2.5–3.5 cm diam., with sparse interpetalar tissue; stamens unequal, lowermost much longer and curved; anthers narrow and tapered, dehiscent by terminal pores, short anthers 7–10 mm, longer anther 12–20 mm; ovary glabrous. |
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Berries | yellow, globose, 1–1.5 cm diam., tomentose, without sclerotic granules. |
brown, globose to depressed-globose, 0.7–1 cm diam., glabrous, dry, without sclerotic granules. |
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Seeds | yellowish brown, flattened, 1.5–2.5 × 1.5–2 mm, minutely pitted. |
dark brown, plump, 2.8–3.6 × 2–3 mm, minutely pitted and irregularly ridged. |
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2n | = 24. |
= 24. |
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Solanum mauritianum |
Solanum tenuipes |
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Phenology | Flowering Mar–Jul. | |||||
Habitat | Disturbed sites. | |||||
Elevation | 0–500 m. (0–1600 ft.) | |||||
Distribution |
CA; FL; South America (Brazil, Uruguay) [Introduced also in Asia (India), Africa, Atlantic Islands, Indian Ocean Islands, Pacific Islands, Australia] |
nc Mexico; Texas |
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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.) |
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. auriculatum | |||||
Name authority | Scopoli: Delic. Fl. Faun. Insubr. 3: 16, plate 8. (1788) | Bartlett: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 44: 629. (1909) | ||||
Web links |