Solanum americanum P. Mill.  
Family: Solanaceae
American black nightshade,  more...
[Solanum americanum var. nodiflorum (Jacq.) Edmonds,  more]
Solanum americanum image
Max Licher  
PLANT: Annual or short-lived perennial herbs, sometimes turning woody with age, usually greater than 1 m tall, without tubers or stolons, unarmed; herbage glabrous to pubescent to variously strigose; stems terete to angled, sometimes with small, antrorsely curved teeth on the angles. LEAVES: alternate or sub-opposite, simple, ovate to lance-elliptic, 2–9 cm long, 1–5 cm wide; margin entire to coarsely-toothed; base sub-truncate to attenuate; apex broadly acute to acuminate; petiole (1–)2–6(–8) cm long. INFLORESCENCE: umbel-like racemes, lateral, borne between nodes or sometimes at nodes opposite leaves, (1–)3–8(–12)-flowered; peduncle 8–30 mm long. FLOWERS: actinomorphic (Fig. 3A); pedicel 2–12 mm long; calyx 0.5–2 mm long, the lobes broadly lanceolate to rounded, about equal to or 1/2 as long as the tube; corolla rotate-stellate to reflexed, white or white tinged with purple, 2–6 mm in diameter; style included to 1 mm longer than anthers, pubescent ± half its length; stamens ± equal, (0.5–)1–1.5(–2) mm long; anthers connivent; filaments 1/2 or less as long as anthers, 1 mm long or less. FRUITS: subglobose, 4–8 mm wide, green, orange-brown or blackish at maturity, not enclosed in the calyx; sclerotic granules 0–5; seeds orbicular, minutely pitted, 1–1.3 mm wide. NOTES: Agricultural areas, waste places and riparian areas: La Paz, Maricopa Mohave, Pima, Yavapai cos. (Fig. 1B); 50–1800 m (200–6000 ft); throughout the year; s. and w. U.S.; Mex; probably native to Eurasia. REFERENCES: Chiang, F. and L.R. Landrum. Vascular Plants of Arizona: Solanaceae Part Three: Lycium. CANOTIA 5 (1): 17–26, 2009.
Solanum americanum image
Max Licher  
Solanum americanum image
Liz Makings  
Solanum americanum image
Eugene, (Gene) Sturla  
Solanum americanum image
Eugene, (Gene) Sturla  
More Images        Web Links       View Parent Taxon       Close window