Solanaceae FAMILY

Schwenckia americana

Edibility

0/5

Medicinal

3/5

Safety & Hazards

The whole plant is pounded to pulp for use as an effective fish poison^[1]. Although providing many well-known foods for people, including the potato, tomato, pepper and aubergine, most plants in the family Solanaceae also contain poisonous alkaloids. Unless there are specific entries with information on edible uses, it would be unwise to ingest any part of this plant^[PFAF].

Cultivation Details

HabitAnnual/Perennial

Growth—

The plant has become naturalized as a weed in many parts of Africa and in India^[1].

Propagation

Seed - Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Schwenckia+americana>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

[1]Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. — http://www.prota.org ↩︎An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
[2]Flora of Guatemala — Standley P.C. & J. A. Steyermark · 1946 - 1976 · http://www.archive.org/ ↩︎A superb reference, though somewhat dated. Gives lots of plant uses as well as information on plant habit and habitat. The entire flora (13 volumes) can now be downloaded from http://www.archive.org/
[PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎