Family: Solanaceae
Solanum orbiculatum
Citation:
Dunal in Poiret, Encyc. Meth. Bot. Suppl. 3:762 (1814).
Synonymy: Not Applicable Common name: None
Description:
An erect or roundedsparsely clonal shrub 0.5-1.5 m; prickles 5-10 mm long, firm, straight or slightly curved, on stems only, not dense, c. 1 per cm of stem, sometimes absent; all parts pubescent with close dense rusty or silvery stellate hairs, general aspect pale or rusty; leaves not discolorous, 1.5-3.5 cm diam., orbicular or slightly ovate, entire, apex rounded, base broadly cuneate or rounded; petiole 5-10 mm long.
Inflorescence a 2-4-flowered cyme in an extra-axillary position, solitary flowers also occur; peduncle to 1 cm; floral rhachis 3-5 mm long; calyx tube 3-4 mm long, campanulate; lobes , 1-2 mm long, broadly and bluntly triangular; corolla 2-2.5 cm diam., stellate, often deeply so; lobes lanceolate, violet; filaments short; anthers 6-7 mm long, distinctly tapered towards the apex, loosely erect; ovary glabrous; style erect; stigma a purplish green; peduncle firming in the fruit; pedicels usually deflexed, calyx appressed; scarcely enlarged, lobes to 5 mm long, apices acute.
Fruit c. 1.5 cm diam., first marbled light- and dark-green, finally a pale yellowish-ivory, somewhat translucent, succulent, brownish when dry; seeds c. 3 mm long, pale- or light-brown, minutely reticulate towards the margin.
| Flowering and fruiting branch and a fruit.
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Image source: fig. 577D in Jessop J.P. & Toelken H.R. (Ed.) 1986. Flora of South Australia (4th edn).
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Published illustration:
Symon (1981) J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. 4:157.
Distribution:
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W.Aust.; N.T.
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Conservation status:
native
Flowering time: Aug. — Oct.
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SA Distribution Map based
on current data relating to
specimens held in the
State Herbarium of South Australia
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Biology:
No text
Author:
Not yet available
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