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Solanum centrale
Solanaceae FAMILY

Solanum centrale

Solanum centrale

Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
0/5

Safety & Hazards

The unripe fruit is toxic[1]. Although providing many well-known foods for people, including the potato, tomato, pepper and aubergine, most species in this genus also contain toxic alkaloids. Whilst these alkaloids can make the plant useful in treaing a range of medical conditions, they can also cause problems such as nausea, vomiting, salivation, drowsiness, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, weakness and respiratory depression[2]. Unless there are specific entries with information on edible uses, it would be unwise to ingest any part of this plant[PFAF].

Cultivation Details

HabitPerennial
Growth—

A plant of the drier parts of the subtropics and tropics of Australia.

Propagation

Seed - sow in trays in a nursery. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and grow them on fast. Plant them out when 10cm or more tall. Division of the stems.. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Solanum+centrale>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

  1. [1]Australian Native Food Industry Limited — http://www.anfil.org.au/index.php/flavour-of-the-month/ ↩︎Information on a small number of Australian plants believed to have the potential for commercial growth.
  2. [2]Poisonous Plants of North Carolina — http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/poison.htm ↩︎An excellent concise but comprehensive guide to toxic plants that grow in N. Carolina. It lists even those plants that are of very low toxicity, including several well-known food plants such as carrots and potatoes.
  3. [3]Florabase — https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/ ↩︎An excellent on-line database of Western Australian plants
  4. [4]Solanaceae Source — http://solanaceaesource.org/ ↩︎Incredible detail on all the species in Solanum (now also including the Tomatoes which were formerly in Lycopersicon). The site will eventually include all other Genera within the Solanaceae.
  5. [5]Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants — http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336 ↩︎Terse details of a huge range of useful plants.
  6. [6]Cornucopia II — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications, California. · 1998 · ISBN 0-9628087-2-5 ↩︎The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.
  7. [7]CosIng — http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/ ↩︎CosIng is the European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients.
  8. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎