Family: Solanaceae
Plant: Low, spreading prickly herb up to 1m high.
Flowers: Blue to mauve, bell-shaped, 1.5-2cm diameter with 5 spreading lobes. The flowers are borne in groups of 1-3 on stalks 2-3cm long.
Flowering: September-March.
Fruit: Ovoid to globular berry about 3cm across. Pale yellowish-green with dark green markings.
Leaves: Oval 5-8cm long and 2-4cm wide, dull, darker on upper surface, thin-textured, deeply lobed and covered in slender erect spines.
Habitat: Beach strand.
Features: Very prickly low-growing shrub. Blue to mauve flowers. Pale yellowish-green fruit with dark green markings.
Name:
Solanum From the ancient Latin name for Black Nightshade.
pungetium From Latin pungens = to prick (referring to its prickly foliage).
|
Type |
Herb |
||
|
Flowers |
Form |
Tubular/Bell-shaped, Cluster |
|
|
|
Colour(s) |
Blue, Mauve |
|
|
|
Petal/Sepal No. |
5 |
|
|
|
Flowering Month |
1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 11, 12 |
|
|
Fruit |
Type |
Berry |
|
|
|
Colour |
Green, Yellow |
|
|
|
Other Features |
- |
|
|
Leaves |
Arrangement |
Alternate |
|
|
|
Type |
Simple |
|
|
|
Shape |
Oval |
|
|
|
Length |
Medium |
|
|
|
Margins |
Lobed, Deeply-divided |
|
|
|
Attachment |
Stalked |
|
|
|
Other Features |
Hairy, Discolorous |
|
|
Bark |
- |
||
|
Habitat |
Beach strand |
||