Solanum lasiocarpum Dunal

Dunal, M.F. (1813) Histoire Naturelle, medicale et economique de Solanum : 222. Type: Hab. in Malabariae arenosis; Hort. Mal. in insulae Bataviae. Moris.

Nightshade

Usually flowers and fruits as a shrub about 1-2 m tall.

Twigs, petioles, and both the upper and lower surfaces of the leaf blade clothed in stellate hairs and straight spines about 6-10 mm long. Leaf blades up to 18 x 15 cm, margins coarsely lobed, petioles about 5-8 cm long.

Inflorescence short, 1-6-flowered. Pedicels about 5-10 mm long. Calyx about 6-8 mm long, lobes short, all calyx parts densely hairy on the outer surface, the hairs stellate and simple and interspersed with numerous small pale glands. Corolla about 40 mm diam., stellate hairy. Anthers up to about 6-8 mm long.

Fruits globular, about 15-30 mm diam. Seeds about 2-2.5 mm long. Embryo U-shaped, cotyledons no wider than the radicle.

Features not available.

Occurs in CYP, known from the Bamaga area at the tip of Cape York Peninsula. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 100 m. Grows in disturbed areas in rain forest or monsoon forest. Also found in Asia and Malesia.