Solanaceae FAMILY

Solanum paniculatum

Edibility

0/5

Medicinal

4/5

Safety & Hazards

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^[1]. Unless there are specific entries with information on edible uses, it would be unwise to ingest any part of this plant^[PFAF].

Cultivation Details

HabitShrub

Growth—

Given its wide adaptability to various disturbed habitats and weedy nature, Solanum paniculatum would probably become naturalized in other parts of the world if introduced^[2].

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. Cuttings of half-ripe wood. Very easy, the cuttings root within a couple of weeks. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Solanum+paniculatum>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

[1]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.
[2]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.
[3]Raintree Nutrition - Tropical Plant Database — http://www.rain-tree.com/plants.htm ↩︎Detailed information on the medicinal uses of more than two hundred rainforest plants, mainly from S. America, with basic descriptions of the plants, their other uses etc.
[4]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
[5]CosIng — http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/ ↩︎CosIng is the European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients.
[PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎