Solanum furcatum Dunal, Solanaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

English: forked nightshade

Spanish: gapichinia

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Glabrous or nearly, the herbaceous upper stems subdichotomous, angulate; leaves ovate, dentate, glabrous; racemes furcate. As to Peru: becoming a tall or sprawling (sometimes 2 meters) halfshrub, the flowering branches or stems, usually once-forked inflorescences and leaves beneath more or less densely puberulent with simple or slightly furcate mostly appressed trichomes, often absent, or mostly, in age; leaves usually ovate, acute but often rather rounded at base, abruptly and shortly or scarcely decurrent, varying from a few cm. to rarely a dm. or so long, about half as wide, entire, undulate-repand or weakly repand-dentate; peduncles lateral, ordinarily 2-several cm. long and forked, frequently fewer than 10-flowered; pedicels crowded or subumbellate, recurved in fruit, usually a cm. long, nearly that in flower; calyx lobes obtuse or subacute, minute or small, in fruit broadly ovate, somewhat accrescent; corolla rotatestellate, white or purplish, exserted, slightly puberulent below as unequal filaments; anthers 2.5- about 3 mm. long; berry finally 5-7 cm. in diameter, not persisting after maturity, 7-34-seeded and with many large stone cells"  (MacBride, 1962; 13(5B/1):168-169).

Habitat/ecology:  In California (U.S.), "Open, often disturbed places, less than 200 m"  (Jepson Manual online).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Chile, Ecuador, Peru (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island)	introduced invasive	Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John (2011)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island)	introduced invasive	Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido (2006) (p. 557)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Más Afuera (Alejandro Selkirk Island)	introduced invasive	Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John (2011)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Más Afuera (Alejandro Selkirk Island)	introduced invasive	Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido (2006) (p. 557)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Santa Clara	introduced invasive	Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John (2011)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Santa Clara	introduced invasive	Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido (2006) (p. 557)

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)
Ecuador (Mainland) Ecuador	Ecuador (Republic of) (continental)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Mexico Mexico	Mexico (United Mexican States)	introduced invasive	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011) Baja California Naturalized
Perú Perú	Perú (Republic of)	native	Macbride, J. Francis (1936) (pp. 13(5B/1):168-169)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (Oregon)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (California)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)

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

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

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

References:

Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John. 2011. Naturalized species in the Juan Fernández Archipelago, Chile. Unpublished spreadsheet.

Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido. 2006. Nouveau catalogue de la flore vaculaire de l'archipel Juan Fernández (Chile) [Nuevo catálogo de la flora vacular del Archipélago Juan Fernández (Chile)]. Acta Bot. Gallica 153(4):399-587.

Macbride, J. Francis. 1936. Flora of Peru. Field Museum of Natural History, Botanical Series, Vol. XIII. 1936-1971, 6 parts.

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.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. 2011. The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.