Solanum

Scientific name

Solanum L.

Common names

wetland nightshade, aquatic soda apple, scrambling nightshade

Family

Solanaceae

Native distribution

Mexico to Costacosta:
(n) midvein of leaf or pinna or rachis of pinnately compound leaf
Rica and the West Indies

Species cultivated

not currently cultivated

Adventive distribution

Florida (United States)

Weed status

Solanum tampicense Dunal is an aquatic weed on the U.S. federal noxious weed list.

U.S. Federal Noxious Weed: Solanum tampicense

Identification: S. tampicense is a vinelike, sprawling, prickly shrub with stems up to 5 m long. It grows as impenetrable thickets and can form large stands of many acres. S. tampicense differs from other Solanum species by its shrub-like to climbing habit, white flowers, and leaves with sinuate marginmargin:
(n) edge; rim
, sparse, recurvedrecurved:
(adj) curved downward or backward
prickles, and stellate hairs.

See Solanum tampicense disseminule fact sheet.

Habit

amphibiousamphibious:
(adj) of a plant able to live on land or in water
to semi-aquatic shrub

Brief description

Large herb to medium shrub; sprawling. Stem sparsely stellate-pubescent, covered with broad-based, recurvedrecurved:
(adj) curved downward or backward
prickles; often interlocking to form dense thickets. Leaves paired or solitary, al ternateternate:
(adj) in threes
; petiolepetiole:
(n) the stalk of a leaf
short, glabrousglabrous:
(adj) without hairs or scales
to sparsely stellate- pubescentpubescent:
(adj) (1) covered with short, soft hairs; (2) bearing hairs
; leaf bladeblade:
(n) (syn. lamina) the flat, expanded part of a leaf, frond, or petal (excluding, e.g., the petiole)
lanceolatelanceolate:
(adj) lance-shaped; widest point below the middle, tapering to the apex
to ellipticelliptical:
(adj) in the form of an ellipse (oval)
, glabrousglabrous:
(adj) without hairs or scales
or sparsely stellate- pubescentpubescent:
(adj) (1) covered with short, soft hairs; (2) bearing hairs
; apexapex:
(n) the point farthest from the point of attachment; the tip (often pointed)
acuteacute:
(adj) tapering to a sharp, pointed apex with more or less straight sides; broader than acuminate; forming an angle of less than 90 degrees
; base attenuateattenuate:
(adj) narrowing gradually to a point
; marginmargin:
(n) edge; rim
entire, sinuately- lobedlobed:
(adj) divided into (usually rounded) segments
; venationvenation:
(n) the arrangement of veins in a leaf
pinnate, with spines. Inflorescenceinflorescence:
(n) the arrangement of flowers on the floral axis
umbelliform in leaf axils oppositeopposite:
(adj) (of leaves) two leaves per node; in pairs on opposite sides of an axis
the leaves, 3- to 11-flowered; peduncles and pedicelspedicel:
(n) the stalk of a single flower in an inflorescence, or of a grass spikelet
short. Flowers small, actinomorphicactinomorphic:
(adj) of flowers, having radial symmetry; capable of being bisected into identifical halves along more than one axis
, white; calyxcalyx:
(n) the outer whorl of the perianth; all the sepals of a flower
5-lobed, lobes small, often with spines; corollacorolla:
(n) the inner whorl(s) of the perianth; all the petals of a flower
with 5 lobes divided nearly to base, often recurvedrecurved:
(adj) curved downward or backward
; anthers tapering to apexapex:
(n) the point farthest from the point of attachment; the tip (often pointed)
, held in the center of the flower, yellow; stylestyle:
(n) in a flower, the narrow and elongated part of the pistil between the stigma and the ovary
1, exceeding the stamens at maturity. Berries globoseglobose:
(adj) spherical or nearly so
, small, green turning orange, then red at maturity; seeds numerous, suborbicular, flattened, yellowish.

Natural habitat

in undisturbed wetlands, cypress swamps, river or stream margins; tolerant of periodic inundation, but not permanent flooding

Additional comments

Solanum is a very large genus of approximately 1,200 species. Solanum tampicense Dunal is amphibiousamphibious:
(adj) of a plant able to live on land or in water
to semi-aquatic. It can be distinguished from other Solanum spp. by its clambering habit, recurvedrecurved:
(adj) curved downward or backward
prickles, and stellate rather than straight hairs.