Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Solanum nigrum
Common name
Black-berry nightshade
Family
Solanaceae
Where found
Grassy areas, roadsides, and disturbed sites. Widespread.
Notes
Introduced short lived shrub or annual or perennial herb to 1.25 m tall. Stems sparsely hairy to hairless, and rough. Leaves alternating up the stems, 2-13 cm long, 10-80 mm wide, more or less hairy and sticky. Juvenile leaves with entire margins, later leaves lobed and toothed, sometimes with wavy margins, tips blunt or pointed. Flowers 7-12 mm in diameter, white, often tinged purple, tubular, with five lobes, in clusters of 4-12 flowers. Sepals point outwards. Fruit purplish black to black, relatively dull.
Intermediates between Solanum nigrum and Solanum nodiflorum are sometimes seen.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Solanum~nigrum (accessed 6 February, 2021)
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a free mobile application:
