Solanum dioicum W.Fitzg.

Erect or spreading clonal shrub to 1 m, usually male or bisexual; grey-green, rusty-green or silvery, densely pubescent with stellate hairs; prickles 5–10 mm long, often pubescent towards base, usually common on stems and calyx-tube of bisexual flower, few or absent elsewhere. Leaves ovate, ovate-lanceolate or elliptic; lamina mostly 6–10 cm long, 10–30 cm wide, sometimes larger, usually concolorous, petiole 1–2 cm long. Male plant: inflorescence up to 20–flowered; penduncle to 1 cm long; rachis 2–10 cm long, pedicels 5–7 mm long; calyx 4–6 mm long, the lobes broadly triangular with linear apices, 1–2 mm long; corolla shallowly campanulate-rotate, 2–3 cm diam., purple; anthers 3–5 mm long. Female plant: flowers solitary; peduncle absent or to 2 mm long; pedicel 5–8 mm long; calyx 15–27 mm long, enlarged in fruit, the lobes linear, 10–20 mm long; corolla broadly stellate, 30–50 mm diam., purple; anthers c. 5 mm long. Berry globular, 20–30 mm diam., yellow-green when ripe, drying pale brown; fruiting pedicel 10–30 mm long; fruiting calyx 25–30 mm diam. Seeds 2–2.5(3) mm long, black or very dark brown.

Growson sand plains, alluvial flats, and rocky outcrops. Usually associated withhummock grassland and open woodland.