Solanum americanum

White Nightshade (Solanum nodiflorum, one of numerous synonyms of Solanum americanum) is a common weed in the Solanaceae family. Known by many common names, including American Black Nightshade, Smallflower Nightshade, Common Nightshade, Garden Nightshade and Glossy Nightshade, it is poisonous, especially the leaves and the green fruit.

Native in North America, Mexico, Central and South America, it has spread to tropical and temperate regions throughout the world. It is a short-lived, rough-stemmed herbaceous plant or small shrub, growing in an erect manner to four feet or more in height. It is known to bloom throughout the year depending on conditions. It has small star-shaped flowers that grow in small clusters at the forks of upper leaves, each flower with five white petals and five yellow stamens. The flowers are followed by green, round berries that ripen to become shiny and black. Its leaves are (mostly) hairless, either smooth-edged or edged with large, rounded teeth.

"Notes: Degraded moist deciduous forest areas, also in Plains, Native of Tropical America"

americanum: American

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Global Distribution

Cosmopolitan

Indian distribution

State - Kerala, District/s: All Districts

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"Found along roadsides and riverbanks from plains to 700m. Common. Native of North and South America, now widely naturalised throughtout the tropics."

Solanum minutibaccatum var. curtipedunculatum Bitter:
Bolivia (South America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Solanum calvum Bitter:
Mexico (Mesoamerica)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Solanum chillonanum Ochoa:
Peru (South America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Solanum tenellum Ochoa:
Peru (South America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Solanum imerinense Bitter:
Madagascar (Africa & Madagascar)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Solanum depilatum Bitter:
Madagascar (Africa & Madagascar)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Solanum photeinocarpum Nakam. & Odash.:
Japan (Asia)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Solanum nodiflorum var. puberulum Dunal:
Mexico (Mesoamerica)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Solanum inops Dunal:
Mexico (Mesoamerica)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Solanum adventitium Polgar:
Argentina (South America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Solanum subspathulatum Sendtn.:
Argentina (South America)
Brazil (South America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Solanum inconspicuum Bitter:
Peru (South America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Solanum gollmeri Bitter:
Venezuela (South America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Solanum curtipes Bitter:
Argentina (South America)
Paraguay (South America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Solanum kitagawae Schonb.-Tem.:
Afghanistan (Asia)
Japan (Asia)
Mongolia (Asia)
Russian Federation (Asia)
China (Asia)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Solanum americanum Mill.:
Belize (Mesoamerica)
Bolivia (South America)
Brazil (South America)
Canada (North America)
Costa Rica (Mesoamerica)
Ecuador (South America)
French Guiana (South America)
Guatemala (Mesoamerica)
Guyana (South America)
Honduras (Mesoamerica)
Mexico (Mesoamerica)
Panama (Mesoamerica)
Suriname (South America)
United States (North America)
Venezuela (South America)
South Africa (Africa & Madagascar)
Caribbean (Caribbean)
China (Asia)
Colombia (South America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Qinghai (Xinhai Xian), Xinjiang [Afghanistan, Japan, Mongolia, Russia; SW Asia]

Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan [widespread in all tropical and temperate regions]

Canada

Origin: Unknown/Undetermined

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Unknown/Undetermined

Confidence: Confident

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

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Flower

In umbellate, 3-5; greenish-white. Flowering from August-January.

Fruit

A globose berry,6-7mm in diameter, depressed, shining black when mature; seeds ovoid. Fruiting September onwards.

Field tips

Branchlets sparsely scabrous, unarmed, zigzag.

Leaf Arrangement

Alternate-subopposite

Leaf Type

Simple

Leaf Shape

Elliptic-ovate

Leaf Apex

Acute

Leaf Base

Truncate-cuneate

Leaf Margin

Bluntly toothed

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Subshrubs climbing, woody at base, slightly branched, 30-70 cm, puberulent with simple hairs, unarmed. Stems striate with scattered lenticels. Petiole 2-3 cm; leaf blade ovate to broadly ovate, ca. 9 × 6 cm, puberulent along veins and margins adaxially, glabrous abaxially, base broadly cordate to rounded, abruptly decurrent, margin entire, apex acuminate. Inflorescences extra-axillary, many-flowered panicles; peduncle 3-7 cm, branched. Pedicel 5-10 mm, puberulent. Calyx truncate at apex or sinuate, minutely pointed, puberulent adaxially; lobes subdeltate, mucronate, ca. 1 mm. Corolla purple, 1-1.5 cm; lobes elliptic or lanceolate, 6-8 mm. Filaments free, ca. 1 mm; anthers united into a tube, ca. 4.5 mm. Style ca. 6 mm. Berry red, 5-8 mm in diam. Seeds ovate, ca. 3 × 2.3 mm. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Aug-Oct.

Herbs annual or short-lived perennial, glabrescent or puberulent with simple hairs. Stems green or purple, mostly erect, 25-100 cm tall. Petiole 1-2 cm; leaf blade ovate, 4-8 × 2-4 cm, membranous, glabrescent or sparsely pubescent, base truncate to cuneate, margin entire or sparingly dentate, apex acute. Inflorescences extra-axillary, subumbellate, 3-6(-l0)-flowered; peduncle 1-2.5 cm. Pedicel 5-10 mm. Calyx cup-shaped, 1.5-2 mm in diam., lobed nearly halfway; lobes ovate, pubescent abaxially, ciliate. Corolla white, rarely bluish or purplish, sometimes with a yellow eye, 3-5 mm, lobed halfway or more; lobes ovate-oblong, 3-4 mm, pubescent abaxially, ciliate. Filaments short, ca. 0.5 mm, puberulent; anthers 1-1.5 mm. Fruiting pedicel erect or nodding; fruiting calyx strongly reflexed. Berry shiny black, occasionally ripening green, globose, 5-8 mm in diam. Seeds discoid, 1.5-2 mm in diam. Fl. Jun-Oct, Fr. Jul-Jan.

"Erect annual herbs; stem glabrous or sparsely hispid. Leaves 2-5 x 1-3 cm, ovate or elliptic, base rounded, shortly decurrent on the petiole, subentire, acute to acuminate at apex, membraneous; petiole to 5 cm long. Inflorescence axillary to extra-axillary umbellate cymes; peduncle 1-2 cm long; pedicels 4-6 mm long. Calyx cupular, 5-lobed, minute. Corolla white, 3-4 mm across, subentire. Berry, 4-5 mm across, globose, purplish-black. Seeds c. 1 mm long, discoid, minutely pitted."

"Habit: An erect much branched annual herb, upto 80cm."

Solanum ganchouenense H. Léveille; S. nigrum Linnaeus var. pauciflorum Liou; S. photeinocarpum Nakamura & Odashima.

Solanum borealisinense C. Y. Wu & S. C. Huang; S. depilatum Kitagawa, not Bitter.

"Degraded moist deciduous forest areas and riversides, also in the plains"

Moist places by water; 100-1500 m.

Waste places, roadsides, fields; 100-2000 m.

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 0
Specimens with Barcodes: 7
Species With Barcodes: 1

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: NNR - Unranked

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure