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Electronic Flora of South Australia species Fact Sheet

Family: Solanaceae
Solanum petrophilum

Citation: F. Muell., Linnaea 25:432(1852).

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Rock nightshade.

Description:
An intricate small clonal shrub 20-50 cm tall,sometimes sprawling; prickles to 1 cm long, unequal, usually straight, rarely curved, sometimes reddish, conspicuous on the stem, petiole, upper and lower leaf surfaces, peduncle, pedicel and calyx; all parts with a close dense tomentum of stellate hairs, general aspect grey-green slightly discolorous; leaves 1-7 x 1.5-2 cm, ovate-lanceolate to oblong, markedly lobed and undulate with 3-6 lobes on each side, lobes shallow and rounded or cut half way to the mid-vein, sinuses rounded, leaf and lobe apex rounded or acute, base truncate to cordate; petiole 5-15 mm long.

inflorescence a 3-10-flowered cyme; peduncle 5-10 mm long; flowering rhachis to 5 cm long; pedicel 5-10 mm long; calyx tube c. 3 mm long; lobes c. 2 mm long, short-triangular, ending in linear acumens c. 5 mm long; corolla 2.5-3 cm diam., rotate, shallowly campanulate, showy, purple; filaments short; anthers 4-5 mm long, oblong, loosely erect; ovary with a few glandular hairs towards the summit; style to 8 mm long, declinate, almost hooked at the tip, mauve; stigma capitate, pale.

Fruiting peduncle and pedicel firm; pedicel deflexed; calyx appressed, lobes 8-12 mm long, linear, elongated to enclose the fruit, with the berry visible between the narrow lobes; berry 8-10 mm diam., globular or depressed-globular, at first marbled-green, later yellow, finally hard, dry, bony, pale- or light-brown, often remaining on the bush for some time; seeds to 1.5 mm long, compressed, light-brown or grey-brown.

image of FSA3_Solanum_pet.jpg Flowering and fruiting branch and a fruit.
Image source: fig. 577E in Jessop J.P. & Toelken H.R. (Ed.) 1986. Flora of South Australia (4th edn).

Published illustration: Cunningham et al.(1982) Plants of western New South Wales, p. 593; Rotherham et al. (1975) Flowers and plants of New South Wales and southern Queensland, p. 155.

Distribution:  S.Aust.: LE, GT, FR, EA, EP, NL, MU, SL.   W.Aust.; N.T.; N.S.W.

Conservation status: native

Flowering time: Aug. — Oct.


SA Distribution Map based
on current data relating to
specimens held in the
State Herbarium of South Australia

Biology: No text

Author: Not yet available


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