Solanum tampicense Dunal, Solanaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  no

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Other Latin names:  Solanum houstonii Dunal

Common name(s): [more details]

English: aquatic soda apple, wetland nightshade

Spanish: espina de manglar, salsita de agua

Habit:  aquatic herb

Description:  "Shrub, 1 to 2 meters high, the branches armed with stout recurved prickles; leaves petiolate, oblong or oblong-ovate, 13 cm long or less, obtuse or acute, cuneate at base, irregularly lobate, sparsely stellate-pubescent; flowers in axillary umbels or racemes; corolla white, 6 to 11 mm long; fruit red, 6 or 7 mm in diameter, glabrous"  (Standley, 1924; p. 1298).

"A small, woody vine, the stems glabrate, bearing a few minute, sessile-stellate hairs when young, sparsely to densely armed with prickles, the prickles short and recurved; leaves in pairs or solitary, sinuately-lobed to parted, the larger leaves oblong to lance-oblong, 5.5-16 cm long, 2.2-5.5 cm wide, the apex acute, the base attenuate, prickly below and often on the mid-vein above, sparsely pubescent throughout, the hairs sessile-stellate and often with the central ray much longer than the lateral ones above, the hairs sessile-stellate and with subequal rays below; petioles glabrous or sessile stellate-pubescent, 5-15 mm long, often armed with a few long prickles; inflorescences lateral and opposite the leaves, cymose, sessile or subsessile; pedicels glabrous or sparsely sessile stellate-pubescent, 5-8 mm long, recurved in age; calyx 1.5-2 mm long, the lobes mucronate, shallowly lobed in age, nearly always armed with prickles, glabrous or sometimes sparsely sessile stellate-pubescent; corolla white to yellowish-white, the limb 12-14 mm wide, parted nearly to the base, the lobes 5-6 mm long, ciliate and sparsely sessile stellate-pubescent externally; filaments about 1 mm long; anthers 3.5-4 mm long; style 5-6 mm long, glabrous, ovary glabrous; fruit globose, red, 8-8.5 mm in diameter; seeds 2-2.5 mm long."  (Gentry and Standley, 1974; pp. 122-123).

Habitat/ecology:  "Forests, riparian habitats, freshwater wetlands, swamps.  The often interlocking stems of this shrub lead to dense thickets that my cover large areas and smother all native vegetation.  The plant can become the dominant understorey species of cypress swamps.  The plant grows both in full shade and full sun"  (Weber, 2003; p. 409).

Tropical wetlands. In Florida (US) it is an invader of cypress swamps and other wetlands.

Propagation:  Seeds and stem sections. Fruit is a berry like a small tomato, containing 10-60 seeds.  "In sunny conditions, the plant produces fruits abundantly.  Seeds as well as stem fragments are dispersed by streams.  Stems can form adventitious roots at the nodes, and the plant regrows from the crown if damaged"  (Weber, 2003; p. 409).

Native range:  Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.

Presence:

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Costa Rica Costa Rica	Costa Rica (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
El Salvador El Salvador	El Salvador (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Guatemala Guatemala	Guatemala (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Mexico Mexico	Mexico (United Mexican States)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	USA (Florida)	introduced invasive	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)

Comments:  A declared noxious weed in the U.S. Planting of this species is prohibited in Miami-Dade County, Florida (U.S.) (Miami-Dade County Dept. of Planning and Zoning, 2010).

Control: 

Biological:  Biological control information from the publication "Biological control of invasive plants in the eastern United States".

Additional information:
Photos and additional information at University of Florida, Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants.
Information from the Global Invasive Species Database.
Information from the book "Identification and biology of non-native plants in Florida's natural areas" (PDF format).

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

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

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

References:

Fox, A./Westbrooks, R. 1997. Solanum tampicense: A serious new invader in South Florida. Aliens 5:10-11.

Gentry, Johnnie L., Jr./Standley, Paul C. 1974. Flora of Guatemala. Fieldiana: Botany. Vol. 24, Part X, Nos. 1-2. Chicago Natural History Museum. 151 pp.

Langeland, K. A./Burks, K. Craddock. eds. 1998. Identification and biology of non-native plants in Florida's natural areas. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida. 165 pp.

Standley, P. C. 1924. Trees and Shrubs of Mexico. Contrib. from the U.S. National Herbarium. 23.

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.

Van Driesche, Roy/Lyon, Suzanne/Blossey, Bernd/Hoddle, Mark/Reardon, Richard. 2002. Biological control of invasive plants in the eastern United States. USDA Forest Service Publication FHTET-2002-04. 413 pp.

Weber, Ewald. 2003. Invasive plants of the World. CABI Publishing, CAB International, Wallingford, UK. 548 pp.