Solanum erianthum D.Don

Shrub or tree to 10 m tall; twigs terete or flattened, drying with angles or grooves, tomentose with variously stalked dendritic-echinoid and echinoid hairs, whitish or drying yellowish-brown, becoming floccose below. Leaves to 20 cm long, ovate to elliptic, apically acute or acuminate, basally acute, obtuse, rounded, sometimes oblique, thick and felty, above with dispersed to dense, mostly short-stalked, subechinoid stellae and scattered echinoid stellae, tomentose beneath with dense, long-stalked stellae; minor leaves absent. Inflorescence erect, mostly standing above the leaves, a condensed corymb or panicle, the peduncle 5-20 cm long with dense, mostly echinoid stellae; pedicels stout, 2-5 mm long, tomentose, articulating almost at the base. Flowers not showy, buds turbinoid (top-shaped); calyx 7-9 mm long, slightly accrescent in fruit, lobed about half-way down, the lobes obtuse-deltoid, densely tomentose outside and near the apex within; corolla white, drying brown, 1.5 cm across, deeply lobed, pubescent outside; filaments 2 mm long, broadened at the base, glabrous; the anthers 3 mm long; ovary densely stellate-tomentose, the style sparsely pubescent. Fruits 7-12 mm across, dull yellow, tomentose; seeds 1.5-2 mm long.

A tropical and subtropical plant. It does well in seasonally moist and dry climates. It will grow on average to poor, well-drained soils. It will grow in full or part sun. In Pakistan it grows up to 1,600 m altitude. It can grow in arid places. It suits hardiness zones 9-11. In Sichuan and Yunnan.

The unripe fruit are used in curries. The leaves are used as a vegetable.

Can be grown by cuttings or seedlings.