categoryZShrubs Shrubs List 
categoryZEvergreen Evergreen List 
categoryZBrooadleaf Broadleaf List 

KANGAROO-APPLE

KANGAROO APPLE

Solanum laciniatum

Nightshade Family [Solanaceae]

Flowers:
month8jun month8june month8jul month8july month8aug month8sep month8sept month8oct

Berries: berryZpossible    berryZgreen berryZyellow berryZorange   oval, to 30mm. Edible when ripe!
berry8sep berry8sept berry8oct berry8nov berry8dec

category
category8Shrubs
category
category8Evergreen
category
category8Broadleaf

status
statusZneophyte
 
flower
flower8mauve
 
inner
inner8yellow
 
morph
morph8actino
 
petals
petalsZ5
indistinct
stem
stem8round
 
toxicity
toxicityZmedium
 
sex
sexZbisexual
 

22nd June 2016, a garden, Southport, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
The leaves are like a bit like tridents - having three tapering progs, the side ones shorter than the central, but the side ones are splayed out at an angle of maybe 30° and often there are two more side prongs set further back [see bottom right].

[Ignore the variegated leaves of some other plant behind it]



22nd June 2016, a garden, Southport, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
The flowers are a deep mauve in colour with what looks like a single petal but it has 5 shallow nicks on the periphery.


22nd June 2016, a garden, Southport, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
The leaves.


22nd June 2016, a garden, Southport, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
Newer leaves are a brighter green.


22nd June 2016, a garden, Southport, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
It is a most striking plant as far as the leaves are concerned; there can be no mistaking it as Kangaroo-apple, which is shrubby with woody stems lower down. It grows to a height of 1m or up to 2m.


22nd June 2016, a garden, Southport, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
The leaves have a pale indented midrib with several curved but unbranched veins which stop short of reaching the leaf edges. The flower stalk is long with branches to other potential flower buds (which are yet to open).


22nd June 2016, a garden, Southport, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
The flower buds peel off a flowering stem alternately each side.


22nd June 2016, a garden, Southport, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
What looks like a single petal but it has 5 shallow nicks on the periphery, plus many random wrinkles and lobes. There are 5 yellow anthers in the centre and a mauve style with discoidal stigma.


22nd June 2016, a garden, Southport, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
The sepal cup has 5 teeth and is a dirty purplish-brown with concolourant stalks.


22nd June 2016, a garden, Southport, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
On the left a sepal cup with probably a smooth fruit which is developing and appears at first yellow. The latent flower on the right has the purple petal(s) neatly folded but ready to open.


22nd June 2016, a garden, Southport, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
At top right a bunch of sepals awaiting maturity of the flowers within.


22nd June 2016, a garden, Southport, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
Sepal cups in various stages of fruiting - those are (probably?) not neatly-folded purple petal(s) but smooth developing fruits which are at first green and will grow larger going through yellow, orange.


22nd June 2016, a garden, Southport, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD


22nd June 2016, a garden, Southport, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
Flower buds yet to open.


Uniquely identifiable characteristics

Distinguishing Feature : The tri-forked leaves.

There is another very similar Australian plant with the same Kangaroo-apple vernacular name called (Solanum aviculare) which also has berries which are edible and only non-toxic when they are ripe!

It is an evergreen garden plant which sometimes finds itself tipped onto rough ground, or municipal tips. Also on seaside sand. It is not a hardy plant in the UK, succumbing if the temperature drops to more than -7°C, which is why it is probably doing well near the milder Sefton Coast where the temperature is moderated by the sea air.

The berries are oval in shape a bit like those of Grape and are only edible when ripe (toxic otherwise!). The alkaloid the plant contains is the poisonous Solasodine (amongst probably a few others as well)...


  Solanum laciniatum  ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ Solanaceae  

Distribution
 family8Nightshade family8Solanaceae
 BSBI maps
genus8Solanum
Solanum
(Nightshades)

KANGAROO-APPLE

KANGAROO APPLE

Solanum laciniatum

Nightshade Family [Solanaceae]