Hello, please let me introduce myself to you. I’m Dieter, German, but living in Italy. I hope that someone of you can help me with a Solanum species. Two years ago I bought seeds which should be Solanum quitoensis. But – obviously – it is something different. Please have a look at the photos. Here is the link to the photo server. http://s1247.photobucket.com/user/digait/library/Solanum?sort=9&page=1 You see (1) A 5 months old plant, ca. 1 m high, just flowering (2, 3) Two ca. 17 months old plant, ca. 2 m high. The plants survived the winter in middle Italy with a temperature of -2°C (!) It kept even most of the leaves (!) (4) All parts are without spines. Youth and adult form of the leaves are identical. (5) Flowers are upright. (6, 7) Fruits are upright. (7) The mature fruits have a diameter of 1-1,5 cm and a length of 1,5-2 cm. The green parts have a very strange smell which is unknown to me. I cannot compare it with anything else I know and which grows in Europe. I think it won’t help much if I call it somehow “exotic and slightly toxic”. You can like the smell – or not. The fruits have the same smell but less intensive. When first I was believing this is a Solanum quitoensis (I have never seen nor plant neither fruits before) I tasted one, two fruits. Not more because of the strange, “warning” flavour. But as I had no problems (stomach or else), I tried more later, and even my relatives, and never we felt ill. (Well, if I would have known before that this is not S. quitoensis, I surely would have been more careful.) The taste of the fruits is a bit bitter, a bit sweet – and has this strange “toxic” flavour. Many thanks in advance for your help! Dieter
Re: Which Solanum spec. (obviously not quitoensis) is this? No es fácil, mira Solanum erianthum Mi saludo
Re: Which Solanum spec. (obviously not quitoensis) is this? PS: You can answer in Italian or Spanish language if you like. Potete rispondere in italiano o in spagnolo.
Re: Which Solanum spec. (obviously not quitoensis) is this? I think like Fernando, and I believe that your plant can be Solanum erianthum, and you should be careful with their fruits, because these can be toxic.
Re: Which Solanum spec. (obviously not quitoensis) is this? Thanks for your answers! I just received a private email that it should be Solanum abutiloides. Knowing that identifaction from photos is problematic, I would tend to say that my plant is more likely to be S. abutiloides than S. erianthum: - form of leaves (broader) - form of fruits (a bit pointed) - arrangement of fruits (more dense) - wood not soft and brittle - smell ist not that of tar Maybe you can tell me where and how to look to distinguish the species?
Re: Which Solanum spec. (obviously not quitoensis) is this? It's certain!!. The plant is Solanum abutiloides. I didn't remember it, but I know that species of the Valencia Botanical Garden. I insert a picture of their fruits.
Re: Which Solanum spec. (obviously not quitoensis) is this? Thank you very much! Then I will try to make some jam from it. Do you know how much frost S. abutiloides will tolerate? Screening the infos on the web, it should tolerate none. But, as told above, my 1-year old plants had no problems with -2°C. And are there any other (lignifying) species of Solanum (with edible fruits) which might survive in mediterranean climat?
