Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  High risk, score: 11 (Go to the risk assessment)

Common name(s): [more details]

English: naranjilla

French: morelle de Quito, naranjille, orange de Quito

Spanish: lulo, naranjilla

Habit:  shrub

Description:  "Robust shrub 1-2 m high, the young branches terete, stout, succulent, becoming soft-woody with age; stems, inflorescences, calyces and corollas densely stellate-pilose, rays per hair few; leaves angular or regularly sinuate-lobate, generally ovate, 27-34 cm long, 20-24 cm wide, petioles 5-8 cm long, apices acute, bases cordate, stellate-pubescent above and below; inflorescences cymose, lateral, very short-pedunculate, about 2.5 cm long, few-flowered; pedicels 3-10 mm long, densely purple-stellate-pilose; flower buds orbicular to obovoid, 12-14 mm long; calyx lobed half to two-thirds the way to base, the ovate-lanceolate lobes thick, acute, pubescent within only near tip; corolla barely exserted from calyx at anthesis, thick, white, about 2 cm across; anthers attenuate, with small apical pores, 7-8 mm long; ovary tomentose, the rays of hairs long, septate; style glabrous or sparsely pubescent; fruit about 5 cm in diameter, orange-colored when ripe, pubescence deciduous; seeds about 4 mm in diameter"  (Wiggins & Porter, 1971; pp. 480-481).

Habitat/ecology:  In the Galápagos Islands, "occasional along trails in the Miconia Zone (Isla Santa Cruz) and on southeast side of main crater (San Salvador [Santiago]), almost certainly introduced by settlers" (Wiggins & Porter, 1971; pp. 480-481).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Colombia, Ecuador and Peru (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Floreana Group	Floreana Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Isabela Group	Isabela Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Isabela Group	Volcán Sierra Negra, Isabela Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) San Cristóbal Group	San Cristóbal Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Santa Cruz Group	Santa Cruz Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Santiago Group	Santiago Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Fatu Hiva Island	introduced cultivated	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Cultivée
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Nuku Hiva (Nukahiva) Island	introduced cultivated	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Cultivée
French Polynesia Society Islands	Tahiti Island		Fosberg, F. R. (1997) (p. 143) S. quitense [sic]
French Polynesia Society Islands	Tahiti Island	introduced cultivated	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Cultivée

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Colombia Colombia	Colombia (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)
Perú Perú	Perú (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)

Additional information:
Information from Solanaceae Source.
Several articles from the Purdue University New Crop web site.
Morton, J. 1987. Naranjilla. p. 425-428. In: Fruits of warm climates.

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

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

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

References:

Charles Darwin Foundation. 2008. Database inventory of introduced plant species in the rural and urban zones of Galapagos. Charles Darwin Foundation, Galapagos, Ecuador.

Charles Darwin Research Station. 2005. CDRS Herbarium records.

Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. 2011. Base de données botaniques Nadeaud de l'Herbier de la Polynésie Française (PAP). (online resource).

Fosberg, F. R. 1997. Preliminary checklist of the flowering plants and ferns of the Society Islands. Ed. by David R. Stoddart. U. Cal. Berkeley.

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

Wiggins, I. L./Porter, D. M. 1971. Flora of the Galapágos Islands. Stanford University Press. 998 pp.