Solanum brownii Dunal, Hist. Nat. Solanum 201 (1813)

S. violaceum R. Br., Prodr. 445 (1810), nom. illeg., non Ortega, Hort. Matr. Decas 56 (1797). 

T: Paterson's River, N.S.W., Oct. 1804, R. Brown s.n.; lecto: BM; iso: K, fide D.E. Symon, J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. 4: 249 (1981).  An image of the lectotype specimen of Robert Brown can be seen on the Solanaceae Source site.

S. elegans Dunal in Poir., Encycl., Suppl. 3: 769(1814). T: t. 58 of unpublished illustrations in Dunal Herbarium, MPU, fide Symon (1981): AD.

S. violaceum var. album Maiden & Betche, Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales 2nd ser., 29: 747 (1905).

T: Mt Dangar, Gungal, near Merriwa, N.S.W., Sept. 1904, J.L. Boorman s.n.; syn: NSW; Wallsend, N.S.W. Sept. 1904, J.L. Boorman s.n.; n.v.

[Modified after Bean 2001 - the identity of varieties scabrum and variegata of S. violaceum previously treated under S. brownii is unclear. ]

S. violaceum var. scabrum Benth., Fl. Austral. 4: 452 (1868); S. violaceum f. scabrum (Benth.) Domin, Biblioth. Bot. 89: 582 (1929).

T: New South Wales, Vicary s.n.; holo: K; New South Wales, C. Moore s.n.; syn: n.v. 

S. violaceum var. variegata R. Baker, Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales 21: 458 (1896). 

T: Rylstone - Goulburn River Districts, N.S.W., R.T. Baker s.n.; n.v.

Erect shrub to 2 m, dark green, pubescent with stellate hairs, the hairs sparse on upper leaf-surface, dense and woolly on lower surface, peduncle and pedicels; prickles 3-9 mm long, usually sparse on stems, occasional or rare elsewhere.

Adult leaves lanceolate; lamina mostly 6.5-13 cm long, 14-29 mm wide,  discolorous, oblique or symmetrical basally, entire or with 1-3 shallow obtuse lobes on each side; petiole 7-15 mm long, prickles rarely present. Juvenile leaves with lamina c. 10 cm long and 3 cm wide, elliptical in outline, shallowly to deeply lobed with 2-3 pairs of obtuse lobes, prickly above and below or only on upper surface.  

Inflorescence 5-8-flowered; peduncle to 10 mm long; rachis 10-20 mm long; pedicels 13-18 mm long. Calyx 6.5-10.5 mm long; lobes triangular to narrowly triangular, 2.5-5 mm long. Corolla broadly stellate to rotate, 22-32 mm diam., purple or rarely, white. Anthers 4.5-6 mm long.  

Berry globular, 18-29 mm diam., pale green to yellow-green. Seeds 2.7-3.0 mm long, pale bone-coloured.

[Description modified after recircumscription by Bean, 2001. Bean's more detailed description of this species can also be accessed on the web at http://delta-intkey.com/solanum/www/brownii.htm].

The highly variable eastern coast species identified as S. brownii, S. cinereum and S. elegans in Symon 1981 were revised in 2001 by Bean (Telopea 9: 639-661).

This resulted in a much narrower circumscription for S. brownii and S. cinereum, the reinstatement of S. amblymerum Dunal (treated by Symon as a synonym of S. elegans) and S. curvicuspe Domin and the reduction of S. elegans to a synonym of S. brownii. An additional six new species were described to encompass the variation encountered - S. armourense, S. celatum, S. limitare, S. neoanglicum, S. nobile and S. silvestre .