Rank Species | ||
 | ||
Similar Solanum villosum, Solanum americanum, Solanum sarrachoides, Solanum retroflexum, Solanum aethiopicum | ||
Solanum scabrum, also known as garden huckleberry, is an annual or perennial. The origin of the species is uncertain, although Linnaeus attributed it to Africa, but it also occurs in North America, and is naturalized in many countries. In Africa it is cultivated as a leaf vegetable and for dye from the berries.
Contents
Description
An annual or short-lived perennial herb to 1 m tall, hairless or sparsely hairy. The leaves are usually ovate, 7–12 cm long and 5–8 cm wide, with petioles 1.5–7 cm long. The inflorescence is simple or sometimes branched with 9–12 flowers. The white corolla is stellate, 15–20 mm diam., and sometimes tinged purple and with yellow/green basal star. The berries are globular, 10–17 mm diam., purple-black. The seeds are 1.8–2.2 mm long, pale or stained purple.
Food
Solanum scabrum is grown as an edible leaf crop in Africa. It is the most intensively cultivated species for leaf cropping within the Solanum nigrum complex, and as such has undergone genetic selection by farmers for leaf size and other characteristics.
Dye
In Africa a stocky form of Solanum scabrum is cultivated as a dye crop using the ripe berries.
