Solanum seaforthianum |
Solanum wallacei |
|
---|---|---|
Brazilian nightshade |
Catalina nightshade, greasy or Santa Catalina or Wallace's nightshade, northern island nightshade, Wallace's nightshade |
|
Habit | Shrubs or small trees, erect to spreading, unarmed, 1–1.5(–3) m, densely pubescent, hairs transparent, unbranched, to ca. 3 mm, usually glandular. | |
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 1–2.5(–4) cm; blade simple, elliptic to obovate, 3–11(–14) × 1.6–5.5(–9) cm, margins entire or slightly undulate, occasionally with 2 small lobes at base, lobe margins entire, base truncate or acute. |
Inflorescences | terminal, becoming lateral, extra-axillary, much-branched, to 100+-flowered, to 25+ cm. |
terminal or lateral, leaf-opposed or extra-axillary, usually once-branched, occasionally more, 20–30-flowered, (2–)4–10 cm. |
Pedicels | inserted into small sleeve on inflorescence axis, 0.8–1.4 cm in flower and fruit. |
inserted into small sleeve on inflorescence axis, 1.5–2 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, 6–7 mm, densely pubescent, lobes deltate; corolla violet to purple with or without green spots at base of lobes, spots usually small and not confluent, rotate, 3–4.5 cm diam., with abundant interpetalar tissue; stamens equal; anthers ellipsoidal, 4.5–5 mm, dehiscent by terminal pores that open into longitudinal slits; ovary glabrous. |
Berries | bright shiny red, globose, 0.8–1.5 cm diam., glabrous, without sclerotic granules. |
shiny green, turning yellow then black, globose, 3–4 cm diam., glabrous, without sclerotic granules. |
Seeds | pale yellowish tan, flattened, 4–4.5 × 2.5-3 mm, minutely pitted. |
reddish brown, plump to flattened, 1.5–2 × 1–1.5 mm, minutely pitted. |
Climbing | or scrambling vines, woody, unarmed, to ca. 3 m, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, hairs white, unbranched, ca. 0.2 mm. |
|
2n | = 24. |
|
Solanum seaforthianum |
Solanum wallacei |
|
Phenology | Flowering year-round. | Flowering Mar–Aug. |
Habitat | Disturbed sites. | Chaparral, open areas, canyon bottoms. |
Elevation | 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) | 0–300 m. (0–1000 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]
|
CA
|
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 wallacei is endemic to Santa Catalina Island. (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. xanti var. wallacei, S. umbelliferum var. wallacei | |
Name authority | Andrews: Bot. Repos. 8: plate 504. (1808) | (A. Gray) Parish: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 3, 2: 166. (1901) |
Web links |