Solanum marginatum L. f., Solanaceae

Click on an image for links to BIGGER PICTURES

Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  yes

Common name(s): [more details]

English: purple African nightshade, white-edge nightshade, white-margin nightshade

Habit:  shrub

Description:  "Branched medium-sized to large shrub, occasionally almost a small tree, to c. 5 m tall; most parts densely white-stellate-tomentose; prickles yellow, to 1.5 cm long. Petioles to c. 4 cm long, prickly. Leaves to c. 25 x 18 cm, usually less on reproductive shoots, broadly ovate or elliptic-ovate, sinuately lobed, finally glabrate or glabrous and dark green above except for whitish tomentose margin, persistently white-stellate-tomentose beneath; midrib and veins prickly, the prickles to > 1 cm long on veins above; base usually deeply cordate with sinus obscured by basal lobes; apex rounded. Cymes few-flowered, white-stellate-tomentose and prickly; peduncles to 4 cm long; pedicels pendent at fruiting. Calyx 9-14 mm long, accrescent; lobes lanceolate-ovate. Corolla 2.5-3.5 cm in diameter, white, sometimes with purplish veins; lobes broadly triangular-ovate, stellate-tomentose outside. Anthers 6-8 mm long. Berry 2-6 cm in diameter, globose or subglobose, yellow; stone cells 0. Seeds 3-4 mm in diameter, broad-ovoid to broad-obovoid"  (Webb et al., 1988; p. 1246).

Habitat/ecology:  In New Zealand, "depleted pastures, poor rough country, forest margins, plantations, gullies, roadsides, waste places, scrub. White-edged nightshade soon became fully naturalised after escaping from cultivation and its propensity to form dense prickly thickets in pastures makes it a most undesirable species. Attempts have been made to eradicate it and it is less common now than in the first half of this century. It is a very distinctive species easily identified by the prickly leaves with prominent chalky white undersurfaces and margins. It is still occasionally grown as an ornamental"  (Webb et al., 1988; p. 1246).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Eritrea, Ethiopia (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)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	Australia (continental)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
Mexico Mexico	Mexico (United Mexican States)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive cultivated	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 1246)
South America (Pacific rim) South America (Pacific rim)	Chile (Republic of)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
South America (Pacific rim) South America (Pacific rim)	Colombia	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
South America (Pacific rim) South America (Pacific rim)	Ecuador (Republic of) (continental)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (California)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)

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