Solanum torvum Sw.

Turkey berry (en), Aubergine-pois (fr), Fausse aubergine (fr), Aubergine sauvage (fr)

Species

Angiosperms > Solanales > Solanaceae > Solanum

Characteristics

Shrub up to 3 m high: branches terete, tomentose with yellowish brown, rarely reddish brown, stipitate-stellate and/or sessile-stellate hairs, usually armed with few straight or recurved compressed prickles which are usually pubescent basally, up to 7 x 8 mm. Leaves ± discolorous, solitary or sometimes in pairs, similar in shape, different in size, broadly ovate to oblong or elliptic, up to 180 x 250 mm, apex acuminate or acute, base mostly unequal, obtuse to subcordate, margins subentire to deeply lobed, with 2-4 pairs of lobes (uncommon in our area), upper surface scabrid with dispersed stipitate-stellate or sessile-stellate hairs, lower surface densely, softly tomentose with mostly stipitate-stellate hairs, veins rarely armed; petioles 10-100 mm long, softly stellate-hairy. Inflorescences lateral and internodal, corymbose cymes, several-to ±50-flowered, lateral, distal flowers with short styles, functionally male; inflorescence axes with simple glandular hairs; peduncles 10-30 mm long, usually 1-branched less than 100 mm from base, tomentose, hairs sessile-stellate and shortly stipitate-stellate; pedicels ±5 mm long, purple, drying dark, hispid-viscid with mostly glandular simple and sessile-stellate hairs, elongating up to 22 mm and thickening in fruit, then sometimes recurved. Calyx purplish, 3-6 mm long, hispid-viscid outside with glandular sessile-stellate hairs, glabrous within, 5-lobed; lobes 1.0-2.5 mm long initially, linear or subulate, calyx splitting with age, then lobes 2-5 mm long, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, apex mucronate, sinuses glabrous. Corolla white, 15-30 mm diam., sessile-stellate pubescent outside, glabrous within, 5-lobed; lobes lanceolate, each with prominent dark lengthwise line inside, 5-12 mm long. Stamens with filaments 1.0-1.5 mm long, glabrous; anthers linear-lanceolate, 6-10 mm long, often oblique basally, tapering above and dehiscing by minute terminal pores. Ovary globose, with short glandular, simple hairs near apex; style 8-11 mm long, curved, glabrous or sparsely glandular-hairy at base. Fruit globose. 10-15 mm diam., glabrous, dull, mucilaginous, produced in clusters of few to 10, yellow-green to dirty brown when ripe, drying black. Seeds flattened-discoid, 1.5-2.5 mm across, buff-coloured, indistinctly reticulate, ±350 per fruit.
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Shrub or tree to 6 m tall; twigs tomentose with mostly stalked, porrect stellae, the midpoints much reduced and eglandular; armed with short straight or re-curved spines which may be pubescent basally. Leaves to 25 cm long, broadly ovate, apically deltoid, basally obtuse or cordate, often dimidiate, the margins sinuate-dentate, above with dispersed stalked or sessile, porrect hairs, the mid-points as long as the radii or longer, beneath tomentose with mostly stalked, porrect hairs, the midpoints reduced, rarely armed on the veins; petioles 1-10 cm long. Inflorescence several-to many-flowered; peduncle tomentose, usually once-branched less than 1 cm from the base, the racemes mostly 1-2 cm long; pedicels 1-1.5 cm long, very slender, purple, drying dark, hispid-viscid with mostly glandular, simple hairs and some porrect stellae with long glandular mid-points, elongating and becoming stout in fruit. Flowers with the calyx purplish, 5 mm long, the lobes ca. 1 mm long and lengthening as the glabrous sinuses dehisce during corolla egress, viscid-hispid outside, glabrous within; corolla white, 1.5-3 cm across, shallowly lobed; filaments glabrous, the anthers 7-12 mm long, often oblique basally, tapering to a fine point and dehiscing by minute terminal pores; ovary with short, glandular, simple hairs near the apex, the style glandular-hairy near the base. Fruit a globose berry 1-1.5 cm across, glabrous, mucilaginous, erect, yellow, but seldom seen when mature; seeds flattened-discoid, 1.5-2 mm across.
Shrubs 1-2(-3) m tall, sparingly armed, densely pubescent overall with many-rayed, grayish stellate hairs. Stems with stout, recurved, reddish or pale-yellow prickles 2.5-10 × 2-10 mm and sometimes bearing basal stellate hairs. Leaves solitary or paired; petiole 2-4 cm; leaf blade ovate to elliptic, 6-16(-19) × 4-11(-13) cm, with yellow, many-branched stellate hairs, armed or unarmed, base cordate or cuneate, margin sinuate or usually 5-7-lobed, apex acute. Inflorescences extra-axillary, many-flowered racemose panicles; peduncle mostly 1-or 2-branched, 1-1.8 cm, stellate pubescent. Flowers andromonoecious. Pedicel dark, slender, 5-12 mm, bearing simple glandular hairs and stalked stellate hairs. Calyx cup-shaped, 4-5 mm, pubescence as on pedicel; lobes ovate-lanceolate, 2-3 mm. Corolla white, rotate, 1-1.3 × 1-1.5 cm; lobes ovate-lanceolate, 8-10 mm, stellate pubescent abaxially. Filaments ca. 1 mm; anthers 4-7 mm. Style 6-8 mm. Fruiting pedicel 1-2 cm, thickened upwards, with sparse stellate and simple glandular hairs. Fruiting calyx ca. 1.5 cm. Berry yellow, smooth, glabrous, 1-1.5 cm in diam. Seeds discoid, 1.5-2 mm in diam. Fl. and fr. throughout the year.
Spreading or scrambling shrub to 3 m high, dark green, pubescent with stellate hairs; hairs dense on lower leaf-surface, sparser on upper surface; glandular hairs on pedicels; prickles 3–7 mm long, scattered on stems and leaf-surfaces, sparse to absent on mature growth. Leaves broadly oval-ovate; lamina mostly 10–15 cm long, 8–10 cm wide, discolorous, lobed; lobes broadly triangular; petiole usually 2–5 cm long. Inflorescence usually branched, 50–100-flowered, the upper and late-season flowers often male; peduncle to first fork 10–25 mm long; pedicels 5–10 mm long, slightly longer in fruit. Calyx 3–5 mm long; lobes apiculate, 2–3 mm long. Corolla stellate, deeply incised, 20–25 mm diam., white. Anthers 5–7.5 mm long. Berry globular, 10–15 mm diam., drab yellow, drying black. Seeds 1.5–2 mm long, yellow or drab brown.
Leaves often geminate at least upwards; petiole 0.8–3.8 cm long; lamina somewhat felty, 4.5–15 × 2.5–11 cm, broadly ovate, ovate-rhombic or ± elliptic, base usually ± cordate or truncate, often dimidiate, apex obtuse to acute, occasionally somewhat acuminate, usually sinuate to lobed, the lobes up to 7, broadly angular or somewhat triangular to rounded, acute to rounded, the sinuses rounded between the lobes, pubescent to scabrous above, the hairs often long stalked with long lateral rays and a short central ray, lower surface paler, densely greyish-white-ochraceous or rusty-ochraceous tomentose to shortly pubescent, with 4–5 pairs of ± straight, lateral nerves, unarmed or with a few straight prickles on the nerves beneath.
Cymes lateral, leaf-remote, axillary or extra-axillary, but ± erect and generally borne above the leaf canopy, once-forked to several times branched, ± corymbiform, at first sub-umbelliform, 1.5–3 cm across, ± congested, few to many-flowered, generally maturing numerous fruits, greenish-white-ochraceous or ochraceous-rusty tomentose, with simple, glandular hairs interspersed, nearly always unarmed, upper and late-season flowers male, lower flowers hermaphrodite; peduncle 0–0.5(1) cm long.
Ovary 0.7–1 mm long, globose or ± conical (or sometimes oblong in outline), sub-sulcate at the middle, reduced in male flowers, glabrous to finely covered with short, simple, glandular hairs denser near the top; style 8–10 mm long, exceeding the stamens, curved, finely glandular-pubescent near the base, exserted, greatly reduced in male flowers and included within the connivent anthers.
Spreading or scrambling shrub or small tree up to 3(6) m, armed; hairs stellate, sessile to long stalked, regular or irregular, with numerous thin rays, or simple apically glandular, spreading hairs interspersed; prickles sub-fuscous, 3–7 mm long and 1–7 mm wide at the base, laterally compressed, broad based, straight or slightly recurved, apically subulate, basally hairy to glabrous.
A shrub 1.5-3 m high. The leaves are oblong and 10-25 cm long. They can be entire or lobed. They often have prickles beneath the midrib. The young stem and underside of leaves are hairy. The flower is white and 2 cm across. The fruit are round berries, yellow when ripe. They are about 1 cm across. They grow in clusters. The seed are roughly circular and 2-3 mm across.
Calyx green or purplish, 3–4 mm long, 5–6 mm across, cupular, often deeply lobed, not very accrescent, glandular-pubescent or hispid-viscid; lobes unequal, 1.5–2.5 × 1–1.5 mm, ovate or triangular to lanceolate, acute or apiculate to long-acuminate, in fruit enlarged to 4 × 2.5 mm, curved out at the apex, the sinuses glabrous and splitting as the corolla expands.
Corolla white or occasionally lilacineous, rotate to stelliform; limb 1.5–2(3) cm across; lobes 4–6 × 4–6 mm, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, obtuse or acute to acuminate, undulate at the margins, hairy or tomentose outside on the median region, ± glabrous inside, spreading, connate by membranous sinuses.
Flowers 5-merous; pedicels (4)5–8(10) mm long, slender, glandular-pubescent or hispid-viscid, in fruit elongated to 20 mm, becoming stout and somewhat thickened distally.
Seeds drab brownish, numerous, 1.5–3 mm in diameter, compressed, somewhat angular, reniform or discoid, smooth to slightly granular all over.
Stamen filaments 1–2 mm long; anthers (5)6–8 mm long, linear-lanceolate in outline, oblique basally, connivent into a cone.
Fruits greenish, turning yellowish, drab yellow or dirty-brown when ripe, 8–15 mm in diameter, globose, eaten in curry.
Branches whitish to ochraceous-rusty tomentose, ultimately glabrescent, with scattered prickles.
A shrubby weed attaining 10 ft. or more in height
Pale stellate-tomentose
White or lilac flowers
Fruits 1/3 in. diam.
Flattened spines
Life form perennial
Growth form shrub
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention evergreen
Sexuality
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 2.5
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) 1.5
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months -
Fruit color
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

A tropical plant. In Papua New Guinea it grows from sea level to 2000 m altitude. In Cambodia it grows between 0 and 1200 m. In Nepal it grows to 1000 m altitude. It grows in open, moist places. It grows in wetlands. In Yunnan in China it grows between 200-1650 m altitude. Photo Brisbane shop. In Yunnan.
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Woodland clearings, thickets and waste places at elevations from 15-1,260 metres in Jamaica. Naturalised on open, moist ground at elevations up to 1,000 metres in Nepal.
Found in disturbed areas.
Light 4-9
Soil humidity 4-6
Soil texture 1-6
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 8-12

Usage

CAUTION: This plant has been shown to contain poisonous compounds. The green unripe fruit are added to curries in Malaysia. They are eaten in soup in Cambodia. They are also used for chutney. They are eaten as a vegetable. They are bitter. They are mixed with other vegetables. They are pickled in Nepal. They are used in soup in China. They are also dried and preserved. The young shoots are eaten raw or cooked. The fruit and flowers are used as a vegetable. The roots are stewed.
Uses environmental use food gene source material medicinal poison social use vertebrate poison
Edible flowers fruits leaves roots seeds shoots
Therapeutic use Hepatomegaly (fruit), Splenic diseases (fruit), Splenomegaly (fruit), Hemostasis (leaf), Skin diseases, infectious (root), Antidote (unspecified), Arthritis (unspecified), Asthma (unspecified), Bladder (unspecified), Convulsion (unspecified), Cough (unspecified), Cracked feet (unspecified), Digestive (unspecified), Diuretic (unspecified), Fumitory (unspecified), Gout (unspecified), Hemostat (unspecified), Narcotic (unspecified), Poison (unspecified), Sedative (unspecified), Skin (unspecified), Spice (unspecified), Sudorific (unspecified), Syphilis (unspecified), Toothache (unspecified), Urogenital (unspecified), Parturition (unspecified), Resolvent (unspecified), Rheumatism (unspecified), Splenomegaly (unspecified), Antitussive agents (unspecified), Digestive system diseases (unspecified), Diuretics (unspecified), Hypnotics and sedatives (unspecified), Digestive system diseases (whole plant), Diuretics (whole plant), Hypnotics and sedatives (whole plant)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Plants are grown from seed. The seeds need sunlight to germinate.
Mode cuttings seedlings
Germination duration (days) 15 - 21
Germination temperacture (C°) 21 - 26
Germination luminosity light
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) 17 - 29
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Habit

Solanum torvum habit picture by Trap Hers (cc-by-sa)

Leaf

Solanum torvum leaf picture by Sudhanshu Kumar (cc-by-sa)
Solanum torvum leaf picture by Sudhanshu Kumar (cc-by-sa)
Solanum torvum leaf picture by Dr Ashwathanarayana Rao (cc-by-sa)

Flower

Solanum torvum flower picture by claire Felloni (cc-by-sa)
Solanum torvum flower picture by Makoto Makoto (cc-by-sa)
Solanum torvum flower picture by Sudhanshu Kumar (cc-by-sa)

Fruit

Solanum torvum fruit picture by Sudhanshu Kumar (cc-by-sa)
Solanum torvum fruit picture by ODENIR VISINTIN ROSSAFA GARCIA (cc-by-sa)
Solanum torvum fruit picture by barros teixeira natalia (cc-by-sa)

Distribution

Solanum torvum world distribution map, present in Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Benin, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, Burkina Faso, Bangladesh, Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, Barbados, Bhutan, China, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Congo, Colombia, Cabo Verde, Costa Rica, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Ecuador, Fiji, Micronesia (Federated States of), Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guadeloupe, Gambia, Equatorial Guinea, Grenada, Guatemala, French Guiana, Guyana, Honduras, Indonesia, India, Jamaica, Japan, Cambodia, Kiribati, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Liberia, Saint Lucia, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Mexico, Myanmar, Montserrat, Martinique, Mauritius, Malawi, Malaysia, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Nepal, Pakistan, Panama, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Réunion, Senegal, Singapore, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Taiwan, Province of China, United States of America, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Viet Nam, and South Africa

Identifiers

LSID -
WFO ID wfo-0001031795
COL ID 4Y4HL
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID 446025
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR) Link

Synonyms

Solanum heterophyllum Solanum torvum Solanum amoenum Solanum campechiense Solanum crotonoides Solanum largiflorum Solanum macaonense Solanum maccai Solanum mayanum Solanum sanctum Solanum daturifolium var. albescens Solanum torvum var. daturifolium Solanum torvum var. inerme Solanum torvum var. typicum Solanum torvum