Solanum marginatum L. f., Solanaceae

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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. (2011)
Chile (continental) Chile	Chile (Republic of)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Colombia Colombia	Colombia (Republic of)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Ecuador (Mainland) Ecuador	Ecuador (Republic of) (continental)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Mexico Mexico	Mexico (United Mexican States)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive cultivated	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 1246)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (California)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)

Additional information:
Information from Solanaceae Source.

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

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

Taxonomic information about Solanum marginatum 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.

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

Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. 1988. Flora of New Zealand, Volume IV: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch. 1365 pp.