Solanum seaforthianum |
Solanum pumilum |
|
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Brazilian nightshade |
dwarf horsenettle, dwarf nightshade |
|
Habit | Herbs, perennial, erect, sparsely armed, to 0.2 m, prickles cream to yellowish, straight, to 3.5 mm, moderately to densely pubescent, hairs whitish, sessile, stellate, 4–8-rayed, central ray (1–)2–5-celled and longer than lateral rays. | |
Leaves | petiolate; petioles twining around supports, 1–4 cm; blade simple to compound, elliptic to broadly ovate, (2–)3.5–10(–13) × (1–)2–9(–11) cm, margins entire to divided with up to 4 pairs of leaflets, leaflet margins entire, base truncate or slightly cordate. |
petiolate; petiole 0.2–1 cm; blade simple, elliptic to obovate, 2.2–8.6 × 1.1–5.1 cm, margins entire, sinuate, or shallowly lobed with 2–6 lobes per side, lobe margins entire, base cuneate to attenuate. |
Inflorescences | terminal, becoming lateral, extra-axillary, much-branched, to 100+-flowered, to 25+ cm. |
extra-axillary, unbranched, 1–4-flowered, 3–7 cm. |
Pedicels | inserted into small sleeve on inflorescence axis, 0.8–1.4 cm in flower and fruit. |
1–3.5 cm in flower and fruit. |
Flowers | radially symmetric; calyx not accrescent, unarmed, ca. 0.5 mm, nearly truncate, glabrous or sparsely pubescent on lobe tips; corolla purple, stellate, 1–2.5 cm diam., with sparse interpetalar tissue; stamens unequal due to unequal filaments; anthers ellipsoidal, 2–3 mm, dehiscent by terminal pores; ovary glabrous. |
radially symmetric; calyx not accrescent, unarmed or sparsely prickly, 6–7 mm, densely stellate-pubescent, lobes triangular; corolla white, stellate to stellate-pentagonal, 1.8–3 cm diam., with abundant interpetalar tissue at margins and base of lobes; stamens equal; anthers narrow and tapered, 6–7 mm, dehiscent by terminal pores; ovary glabrous. |
Berries | bright shiny red, globose, 0.8–1.5 cm diam., glabrous, without sclerotic granules. |
unknown. |
Seeds | pale yellowish tan, flattened, 4–4.5 × 2.5-3 mm, minutely pitted. |
unknown. |
Climbing | or scrambling vines, woody, unarmed, to ca. 3 m, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, hairs white, unbranched, ca. 0.2 mm. |
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2n | = 24. |
|
Solanum seaforthianum |
Solanum pumilum |
|
Phenology | Flowering year-round. | Flowering Apr–May. |
Habitat | Disturbed sites. | |
Elevation | 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) | 80–200 m. (300–700 ft.) |
Distribution |
FL; Mexico; West Indies; Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama); South America (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela) [Introduced in North America; introduced also elsewhere in South America (Argentina, Paraguay, Peru), Asia, Africa, Pacific Islands, Australia]
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AL; GA |
Discussion | Solanum seaforthianum is widely cultivated as an ornamental and sporadically escapes in Florida. A similar species with twining petioles, S. laxum Sprengel, is occasionally cultivated in California. It is distinguished from S. seaforthianum by having tufts of hairs in the vein axils of the abaxial leaf surfaces, white rather than violet corollas, and equal stamens. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Solanum pumilum is endemic to Ketona dolomite outcroppings near the Little Cahaba River in Bibb County and on amphibolite outcroppings near the Coosa River in Chilton and Coosa counties in Alabama. It was collected originally from Georgia in the 1830s from Baldwin and Muskogee counties. (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. hirsutum, S. carolinense var. hirsutum | |
Name authority | Andrews: Bot. Repos. 8: plate 504. (1808) | Dunal in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle: Prodr. 13(1): 287. (1852) |
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