Purple nightshade
| Solanum xanti | ||||||||||||||||
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| Solanum xanti A. Gray |
Purple Nightshade, or Solanum xanti, is a semi-evergreen perennial vine, originally native to California, it can now be found in most of North America. It grows in shrublands, oak/pine woodlands, as well as deciduous and coniferous forests, to 4,000 feet elevation, in sandy, rocky or clay soils. It is found in areas that receive 10-20" of rainfall annually and prefers partial sun. It ranges from two to four feet in height, and two to four feet in width.[1] Purple Nightshade has been observed 'climbing' higher on fences, shrubs and saplings, sometimes 'choking' or blocking sunlight thereby killing off the host plant.
Purple Nightshade flowers are a blue purple and approximately an inch wide, and foliage is dark green. [2] It blooms in spring to early summer. The plant is poisonous to humans. Due to Purple Nightshade's poisonous nature, tomatoes (also a member of the Nightshade family) were thought to be as equally toxic by many Britons and North Americans as late as the early eighteenth century.