Solanum Aviculare Click on Images to Enlarge

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Solanum aviculare Click on images to enlarge

Family Solanaceae Scientific Name Solanum aviculare G.Forst. Forster, G. (1786) De Plantis Esculentis insularum oceani australis botanica : 42. Type: Queen Charlotte Sound, lecto: BM. Fide G. T. S. Baylis (1954) Trans. Roy. Soc. New Zealand 82: 641. Habit, leaves and flowers. Copyright CSIRO Common name Nightshade; Apple, Kangaroo; Kangaroo Apple Stem Usually flowers and fruits as a shrub about 1-4 m tall. Leaves

Leaves +/- glabrous, rather variable, either entire or lobed, both leaf types quite large. Simple leaf blades Fruit. Copyright Australian Plant Image Index (APII). about 8-20 x 1.5-5.5 cm. Lobed leaf blades about 12-25 x 7-23 cm. Petioles about 1-4 cm long. Leaf bearing Photographer: M. Fagg. twigs glabrous. Stems and twigs unarmed. Flowers Inflorescence up to 10-flowered. Pedicels about 15-20 mm long. Calyx about 5-6 mm long, lobes triangular, about 1.5-3 mm long. Corolla about 25-40 mm diam. Anthers yellow, about 3.5-4.5 mm long. Pollen white. Fruit Fruits ovoid to ellipsoid, about 10-15 mm diam., calyx persistent at the base. Seeds pale brown, numerous, about 1-1.5 mm long, testa reticulate on the outer surface. Embryo +/- U-shaped, cotyledons about as wide as the radicle. Fruit. Copyright CSIRO Seedlings Cotyledons lanceolate, about 4-6 x 1.5-2 mm. First pair of leaves +/- spathulate. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf margin coarsely lobed, leaves +/- glabrous. Petiole narrowly winged. Terminal buds and stem glabrous. Stem, petiole and midrib purplish in colour. Seed germination time 12 to 53 days. Distribution and Ecology Occurs in NEQ, CEQ and southwards to Victoria. Altitudinal range in NEQ from 700-1100 m. Grows in disturbed areas in upland and mountain rain forest. Also occurs in New Guinea, Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island, New Caledonia and New Zealand. Scale bar 10mm. Copyright CSIRO Natural History & Notes May be poisonous to stock. Everist (1974). This species is used to obtain the steroid solasodine. Cribb (1981). Shrub (woody or herbaceous, 1-6 m tall) X Synonyms Solanum aviculare G.Forst. var. aviculare, The Victorian Naturalist 24: 59(1907). Solanum brisbanense (Herasim.) Herasim., Novitates Systematicae Plantarum Vascularium (Leningrad) 7 : Cotyledon stage, epigeal germination. Copyright CSIRO 273(1971), Type: Cultivated Moscow from seed ex Brisbane; holo: LE. RFK Code 3121 CC-BY Australian Tropical Herbarium unless otherwise indicated in the images.