SOLANUM LUTEUM subsp. LUTEUM

Family and Genus:- See- SOLANACEAE

Common Names:- Yellow or hairy nightshade

Homotypic Synonyms:- Solanum villosum ssp. villosum

Meaning:- Solanum (L) Comforter, an ancient Latin used by the Roman naturalist

and philosopher Pliny.

Luteum (L) Yellow, vile, of clay, muddy.

General description:- Annual, plant villous, the hairs usually patent, glandular

Stems:-

1) Up to 50 cm, with simple hairs; obscurely angled, with smooth ridges,

decumbent to erect.

Leaves:-

1) 2-7 x 1·5-4 cm, rhombic to ovate-lanceolate, entire to sinuate-dentate.

Flowers:-

1) Cymes, 3- to 5-flowered, lax, solitary.

2) Peduncles, (4-)7-13(-19) mm, the pedicels often longer and deflexed in fruit.

3) Calyx, 1-2·5 mm, slightly accrescent, deflexed or adhering to the base of the

berry;

a) lobes, triangular.

4) Corolla, 8-16 mm in Æ, 3-5 times as long as calyx, white.

5) Anthers, 1·5-2·5 mm, yellow

Fruit:-

1) Berry, 6-10 mm in Æ, usually longer than wide, red, orange or yellow.

2) Seeds, 1·6-2 mm.

Key features:-

1) Cymes, 3-5 flowered.

2) Fruiting peduncle, equalling or shorter than the pedicels

3) Branches and leaves, with short, appressed, eglanular hairs.

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Habitat:- Orchards, gardens, ruderal habitats. 0-700 m.

Distribution:- C & S Europe and SW Asia, Widespread throughout the

Mediterranean region. A somewhat sporadic distribution on Crete.

Flowering time:- Apr-Aug sporadically at other times.

Photos by:- Zacharias Angourakis