| Dicotyledon | Literature for Solanum mauritianum
Wagner et al., 1990, 1999. |
| Solanaceae -- The Nightshade Family | Bibliography |
| Solanum mauritianum | |
Common name(s): nightshade, tomato, pua nana honua |
| General Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Distribution | Native to eastern South America, now widely naturalized in warm temperate regions of the world.In the Hawaiian Islands, naturalized on O`ahu. | |
| Habit |
Shrubs or small trees 2-4 m tall, branched above to form a rounded canopy, unarmed, all parts densely pubescent with sessile to long-stalked stellate hairs, loose and floccose on young growth. |
|
| Leaves |
Leaves paler on lower surface, simple, alternate, elliptic, up to 30 cm long and 12 cm wide on young vigorous growth, usually ca. 18 cm long and ca. 7 cm wide, on mature stems margins entire, apex acuminate, base cuneate, often oblique, petioles 3-9 cm long, each with 1-2 smaller auriculate leaves in axils, these sessile, rounded, sometime absent from weak or distal shoots. |
|
| Flowers |
Flowers perfect, actinomorphic, numerous in branched corymbs, peduncles up to 15 cm long to first fork, pedicels 2-3 mm long; calyx tube short, 2-3 mm long, the lobes narrowly triangular, 2-3 mm long; corolla lilac blue with a pale star-shaped area at base, stellate, 1.5-2.5 cm in diameter; stamens 5, inserted low on corolla tube; filaments ca. 1 mm long; anthers oblong, 2-3.5 mm long, opening by terminal pores; ovary densely pubescent; style pubescent in lower part, 5-7 mm long; stigma green, terminal. |
|
| Fruit |
Berries dull yellowish, succulent, globose, 1-1.5 cm in diameter, pubescent at least in early stages. |
|
| Seeds |
Seeds numerous, flattened, 1.5-2 mm long, testa minutely reticulate. |
|
| Chromosomes |
2n = 24 |
|
| Notes |
Self-compatible |
|