Solanum elaeagnifolium Cav., Solanaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

English: bull nettle, prairie berry, silver leaf nightshade, silver-leaf bitter-apple, silverleaf nettle, tomato weed, white horse-nettle, white nightshade

Spanish: trompillo

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Perennial herbs up to 50 cm tall, vegetative growth usually annual, erect, branched above, usually armed with straight, fine, reddish prickles 2-5 mm long, usually on stems, occasionally on petioles, leaves, and calyx, all parts densely and closely tomentose with stellate hairs, general aspect silvery green, rarely reddish brown, forming colonies from underground root system.  Leaves simple, alternate, lower leaves oblong-lanceolate, up to 10 cm long and 4 cm wide, margins sinuate-undulate, apex acute or obtuse, base rounded or cuneate, upper leaves smaller, oblong, entire.  Flowers perfect, actinomorphic, few in racemose cymes, peduncle up to 1 cm long, pedicels ca. 1 cm long at anthesis, elongating to 2-3 cm long in fruit; calyx tube up to 5 mm long, 5-ribbed by the principle veins, the lobes subulate; corolla blue, rotate-stellate, 2-3 cm in diameter, the lobes divided ca. 1/2 their length; stamens inserted near base of corolla tube; filaments 3-4 mm long; anthers yellow, slender, tapered upward, conspicuous, erect, not coherent, 5-8 mm long, opening by apical pores; ovary pubescent toward summit; style 10-15 mm long; stigma terminal.  Berries at first marbled green, later yellow to finally orangish brown, mucilaginous, globose, 0.8-1.4 cm in diameter, calyx covering base of fruit.  Seeds pale brown, discoid, flattened, ca. 3 mm long, smooth. Considerable variation within this species exists in prickliness, leaf margin, tomentum, and flower color"  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1270).

Habitat/ecology:  In Hawai‘i, "naturalized in disturbed agricultural sites" (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1270).

Propagation:  Seed and forming colonies from roots (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1270).

Native range:  "Extra-tropical North and South America, now widely naturalized and a tenacious weed" (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1270).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1270) East Maui.
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Oppenheimer, Hank L./Meidell, J. Scott/Bartlett, R. T. (1999) (p. 10) West Maui. Voucher cited: Oppenheimer & Price H79801 (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Moloka‘i Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1270)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1270)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Chile (continental) Chile	Chile (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Japan Japan	Japan (country)	introduced	Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro (2004) (p. 188)
Mexico Mexico	Mexico (United Mexican States)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)

Control:  Fact sheet, including control methods, from Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board.

Additional information:
Fact sheet from Weeds Australia
Fact sheet from Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board.
European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization datasheet (PDF format).
Photos and other information from Chileflora.

Additional online information about Solanum elaeagnifolium is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Solanum elaeagnifolium as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Solanum elaeagnifolium may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro. 2004. Invasive alien species in Japan: the status quo and the new regulation for prevention of their adverse effects. Global Environmental Research 8(2)/2004: 171-191.

Oppenheimer, Hank L./Meidell, J. Scott/Bartlett, R. T. 1999. New plant records for Maui and Moloka‘i. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 1998. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 59:7-11.

U. S. Government. 2011. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (on-line resource).

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. 1999. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawaii. Revised edition. Bernice P. Bishop Museum special publication. University of Hawai‘i Press/Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 1919 pp. (two volumes).