Solanum elaeagnifolium Cav., Solanaceae

Click on an image for links to BIGGER PICTURES

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
Japan Japan	Japan	introduced	Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro (2004) (p. 188)
Mexico Mexico	Mexico (United Mexican States)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
South America (Pacific rim) South America (Pacific rim)	Chile (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)

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