Solanum nigrescens M.Martens & Galeotti

Perennial herb, rarely to 3 m tall, sometimes epiphytic; stems terete to angled, often purplish; often sarmentose. Leaves to 10 cm long but mostly much shorter, ovate to lanceolate, entire or toothed. Inflorescence a condensed raceme or umbellate, 1-to several-flowered; the peduncle slender, appressed pubescent; pedicels slender, often thickening in fruit, appressed-pubescent, erect or deflexed in flower but always strongly deflexe!d in fruit. Flowers with the calyx lobes ovate, lanceolate or deltoid, not accrescent; corolla white or mauve, mostly with a conspicuous eye, small (to 15 mm across); anthers mostly 2.5-2.9 mm long. Fruit black or rarely green with dark purple markings, dull, mostly 4-8 mm across; seeds 1.2-1.5 mm across. Chromosome number n-12.

Wet thickets or forests or in mixed forests or on dry brushy hillsides, sometimes a weed of cultivated fields, at elevations from 1,500-3,900 metres. Canyons and higher elevations, especially on north-facing slope in Arizona.

The leaves are cooked and eaten in soups, stews, and omelettes.

Can be grown by cuttings or seedlings.