Solanum seaforthianum
(Brazilian nightshade)

Preferred Common Name

• Brazilian nightshade

Other Scientific Names

• Solanum cyrrhosum Dunal
• Solanum kerrii Bonati
• Solanum prunifolium Roem. & Schult.
• Solanum salignum Roem. & Schult.
• Solanum seaforthianum var. disjunctum O.E. Schulz
• Solanum venustum Kunth

International Common Names

• English: Italian jasmine; potato creeper; potato-creeper; St Vincent's lilac; St. Vincent lilac; star potato vine
• Spanish: guindilla; jazmín de Italia; josefina (Mexico); tomatillo
• French: liane pomme de terre; liane pomme Édouard; petite liane patate

Local Common Names

• Chinese: nan qing qi
• Australia: blue potato vine; climbing nightshade; vining solanum
• Cuba: jazmín de Italia
• Dominican Republic: jazmín italiano; lila
• Mexico: guindilla; piocha
• Netherlands: seaforth's nachtshade
• Puerto Rico: falsa belladona
• South Africa: aartappelranker (Afrikaans); climbing nightshade; ijalamu (isiZulu)

EPPO code

• SOLSE (Solanum seaforthianum)

• Domain: Eukaryota
•     Kingdom: Plantae
•         Phylum: Spermatophyta
•             Subphylum: Angiospermae
•                 Class: Dicotyledonae
•                     Order: Solanales
•                         Family: Solanaceae
•                             Genus: Solanum
•                                 Species: Solanum seaforthianum

The family Solanaceae includes about 102 genera and 2460 species (Stevens, 2012). Members of this family are characterized by solitary or clustered flowers with sepals and petals, five in number and fused; five stamens; and a superior ovary composed of two fused carpels. Flowers are usually conspicuous and are pollinated mainly by insects (Stevens, 2012). Many of the Solanaceae species evolved in the Andean and Amazonian regions of South America in habitats that vary dramatically including rainforests that receive more than 3000 mm of precipitation annually, deserts with virtually no rainfall, and high mountains with regular snowfall and subfreezing temperatures (Bombarely et al., 2011).

The genus Solanum contains almost half of all the species within this family (ca. 1250-1700 species) and many formerly independent genera like Lycopersicon or Cyphomandra are now included in Solanum as subgenera or sections (Weese and Bohs, 2007; Stevens, 2012). The Solanaceae is commonly known as “the nightshade family” due to the poisonous alkaloids present in some species (Weese and Bohs, 2007). S. seaforthianum takes its species epithet from Lord Seaforth (Francis Mackenzie Humberston, 1754-1815), governor of Barbados from 1801 to 1806.

Woody vines, twining by the petioles. Stems terete, glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Leaves simple or more often pinnatifid or pinnately lobed with up to 4 pairs of leaflets, (2-) 3.5-10(-13) x (1-)2-9(-11) cm, elliptic to broadly triangular in outline, widest in the basal third, membranous, the upper surfaces glabrous or with tiny simple uniseriate trichomes on the veins and margins, the lower surfaces glabrous; base acute, truncate or slightly cordate, occasionally oblique and asymmetric; margins less commonly entire, usually 3-7 lobed, the lobes to 5 x 2 cm, smaller basiscopically; apex acute to acuminate; petioles 1-4 cm long. Inflorescences terminal, later lateral, to 25 or more cm long, with many open, divaricate branches, with up to 100 or more flowers, glabrous; pedicels 0.8-1.4 cm, Flowers all perfect, 5-merous. Buds globose, slightly inflated, the corolla strongly exserted from the calyx tube long before anthesis. Calyx tube approximately 0.5 mm, flattened and open, the lobes < 0.2 mm long, Corolla 1.1-2.5 cm in diameter, violet or pale violet, stellate-rotate, lobed ½ to 2/3 of the way to the base, the lobes 5-9 x 3-4.5 mm, spreading or slightly cupped at anthesis, densely and minutely pubescent on the tips and margins; free portion of filaments markedly unequal, the longest filament 2-3 mm, glabrous; anthers 2-3 x 1-1.5 mm, occasionally one anther slightly larger, ellipsoid, loosely connivent, yellow, poricidal ;ovary glabrous; style 7-10 mm long, stigma capitate, minutely papillose. Fruit a globose berry, 0.8-1.4 cm in diameter, bright shiny red when ripe, glabrous, the pericarp thin; Seeds 4-20 per berry, 4-4.5 x 2.5-3 mm, flattened-reniform, pale yellowish tan, the surfaces minutely pitted (Knapp, 2010).

Determining the date of introduction of S. seaforthianum is very difficult, mainly because the native distribution range of this species remains unclear and it has been widely cultivated as an ornamental in many tropical and subtropical regions of the world. For example, in the nineteenth century S. seaforthianum was cultivated in England from material introduced from the West Indies by Lord Seaforth (Francis Mackenzie Humberston, 1754-1815), governor of Barbados from 1801 to 1806 (Howard, 1979). S. seaforthianum was also reported as a “cultivated plant” on St Croix Island in 1879 (Eggers, 1879) and in gardens in Puerto Rico in 1881 (Bello Espinosa, 1881). By the start of the twentieth century, it was listed as cultivated and naturalized in Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, St Thomas, St Croix, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St Vincent, and Barbados (Urban, 1905). The paucity of collections and the relatively late dates of specimens of this species in the US National Herbarium from the West Indies, suggest that this species was introduced there rather than native.

Soil drainage

• free

Soil reaction

• acid
• neutral

Soil texture

• light
• medium

Special soil tolerances

• shallow

S. seaforthianum spreads by seeds. Fruits can be dispersed by birds, cattle, and water (Gallagher et al., 2010; Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, 2011; BioNET-EAFRINET, 2014).

S. seaforthianum is considered an invasive and noxious weed with the potential to overtop and smother native plant communities. This species out-competes native plant species by crowding or shading them out (ISSG, 2008; Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, 2011; PIER, 2014). S. seaforthianum also reduces biodiversity in natural forests because plants are able to dominate large areas in the understory affecting the germination and establishment of native species. In South Africa for example, it is invading areas with high conservation relevance such as the Kruger National Park (Foxcroft et al., 2003). S. seaforthianum is poisonous and children and poultry have been adversely affected after eating its fruit. Cattle, pigs and sheep have also been affected by this species (Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, 2011; USDA-ARS, 2014).

• Proved invasive outside its native range
• Highly adaptable to different environments
• Is a habitat generalist
• Tolerates, or benefits from, cultivation, browsing pressure, mutilation, fire etc
• Pioneering in disturbed areas
• Highly mobile locally
• Benefits from human association (i.e. it is a human commensal)
• Long lived
• Fast growing

• Damaged ecosystem services
• Ecosystem change/ habitat alteration
• Host damage
• Infrastructure damage
• Monoculture formation
• Negatively impacts animal health
• Reduced native biodiversity
• Threat to/ loss of native species
• Damages animal/plant products

• Competition - monopolizing resources
• Competition - shading
• Competition - smothering
• Competition - strangling
• Pest and disease transmission
• Poisoning
• Rapid growth

• Highly likely to be transported internationally deliberately

S. seaforthianum has been widely commercialized as a garden ornamental plant (USDA-ARS, 2014).