Solanum glaucophyllum Desf., Solanaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  no

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  High risk, score: 10 (Go to the risk assessment)

Other Latin names:  Solanum glaucum Dunal; Solanum malacoxylon Sendtn.

Common name(s): [more details]

English: waxyleaf nightshade

Habit:  shrub/tree

Description:  "Rhizomatous shrubs or slender treelets ca. 0.5-4 m tall. Stems glabrous (rarely moderately to densely puberulent-pubescent with unbranched hairs), usually light-colored and smooth. Sympodial units many-foliate. Leaves simple, the blades 6-18 x 0.6-3.5 (5) cm, 4.5-10 (15) times as long as wide, narrowly elliptic, succulent or fleshy with the midribs and margins often thickened and whitish, surfaces glaucous in fresh material, glabrous adaxially and abaxially (rarely moderately to densely puberulent-pubescent with unbranched hairs); base tapered to decurrent; margin entire; apex acute; the petioles 1.5 cm or less, glabrous, often slightly winged. Inflorescences 3.5-9 cm, branched, sometimes highly so, with 20-50 or more flowers, all flowers perfect, the axes glabrous (rarely moderately puberulent-pubescent with unbranched hairs); peduncle 1-3.5 cm; rachis 2-7 cm; pedicels 12-15 mm, ca. 15-20 mm in fruit, spaced 1-15 mm apart, articulated at the base. Flowers with the calyx the radius 2-3 mm, the lobes 0.5-1.5 x 1.5-2.5 mm, deltate, acute at apex, glabrous except for some sparse puberulence at margin. Corollas 2.5-4 cm in diameter, the radius 10-30 mm, rotate-stellate and plicate, chartaceous, whitish to pink or violet, often with a white central star, the the tube 5-8 mm, the lobes 4-10 x 5-10 mm at base, broadly triangular, apiculate at apices, moderately to densely puberulent abaxially, especially on distal parts of lobes and plicae, glabrous adaxially except for a few sparse hairs at tips of lobes. Anthers 5-7 x 2 mm, usually connivent, yellow to orange yellow, ovate, the pores directed distally. Ovary glabrous; style 5-7 x 0.25-0.5 mm in diameter, cylindrical, glabrous; stigma truncate. Fruits 0.75-2 x 0.75-2 cm in diameter, globose, sometimes apiculate at apex when young, obtuse at apex when mature, dark purple or blue-black and glaucous when ripe, glabrous; stone cell aggregates absent. Seeds ca. 4-6 x 3.5-4 mm, angled, smooth or with minute scalloped ridges"  (Solanaceae Source).

Habitat/ecology:  In its native range, "low, swampy ground at margins of marshes and ponds in seasonally inundated areas; ca. 0-600 m"  (Solanaceae Source).

Propagation:  Seed and rhizomes.  The seeds may be dispersed by water and by birds  (Solanaceae Source).

Native range:  Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Japan Japan	Japan	introduced	Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro (2004) (p. 188)

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	USA (Florida)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2013)

Control:  If you know of control methods for Solanum glaucophyllum, please let us know.