Solanum

****add black nightshade

Kangaroo apple (on the left in the picture) is a wonderful pioneer species for open areas on deep, fertile soils. It grows rapidly into a shrub that produces orange fruit that is attractive to many birds. The regent bower bird flies from the dense forest to feed on the fruit. It is just one of the birds that introduce the seeds of trees that germinate under kangaroo apple.

The seedling to the the right of the kangaroo apple is tree tobacco, Solanum mauritianum. This introduced weed can grow more quickly than kangaroo apple and its foliage casts a dense shade which kangaroo apple cannot penetrate. Wherever the two species grow together, tree tobacco needs to be rigorously controlled.

Another kangaroo apple that had green fruits and which lacked the bitter taste of those of S. aviculare turned out to be Solanum vescum.

Australia is rich in nightshades and here is another very pretty one that appeared on our site, so far not identified. Note the spines on the midrib of the upper leaf surface.

More on the web:

Fruit half-eaten by birds

Solanum species