Erect shrub to 1 m, green; stems and petioles pubescent with minute stellate hairs, leaves sparsely pubescent to glabrous on both surfaces; prickles to 7 mm long, frequent on older stems, scattered on leaf-surfaces.  

Leaves lanceolate-elliptic; lamina 9–18 cm long, 2–5 cm wide, concolorous, shallowly lobed; lobes bluntly triangular; petiole 1–2 cm long.  

Inflorescence up to 12–flowered, upper flowers male, lower flowers bisexual; peduncle 10–30 mm long; pedicels 10–15 mm long, elongated in fruit. Bisexual flowers: calyx 3–4 mm long, the lobes triangular, 2–3 mm long; corolla stellate, deeply incised, 15–20 mm diam., violet; anthers 5–6 mm long. Male flowers similar.  

Berry 10–15 mm diam., blood-red; fruiting pedicel 15–25 mm long. Seeds 3–4 mm long, pale buff, winged on one side. n=24.

 This description from Flora of Australia also included S. defensum , now treated as a separate species, and elements of S. corifolium . Bean's description of the more narrowly circumscribed S. discolor is reproduced below, with permission, from Austrobaileya 6: 690 (2004).  

Erect, rhizomatous perennial shrub, 0.5–2 m high. Juvenile stage unknown. Adult branchlets yellow or brown; prickles absent or present, 0–10 per decimetre, straight, acicular, 2–6 mm long, 10–16 times longer than wide; stellae very dense, 0.25–0.4 mm diameter, stalks 0–0.1 mm long; lateral rays 7 or 8, porrect; central ray 0.2–0.8 times as long as laterals, not gland-tipped; finger hairs absent; Type 2 hairs absent.  

Adult leaves lanceolate, elliptical or ovate, entire or shallowly lobed throughout; lobes 3–6 on each side, obtuse, lobing index 1–1.3; lamina 7–10 cm long, 1.6–4.5 cm wide, 2.3–4.3 times longer than broad, apex acute or acuminate, base cuneate, oblique part 0–3 mm long, obliqueness index 0–4 percent; petioles 0.4–0.9 cm long, 4–10% length of lamina, prickles absent. Upper leaf surface green; prickles 0–7, straight, acicular, 3–5 mm long, prickles absent or present on midvein only or present on midvein and lateral veins; stellate hairs absent, or confined to midrib; ordinary stellae absent from surface; finger hairs absent; Type 2 hairs absent. Lower leaf surface white or yellowish; prickles absent; stellae very dense, c. 0.05 mm apart, 0.3–0.5 mm diameter, stalks 0–0.1 mm long; lateral rays 8–9, porrect; central ray 0.1–0.5 times as long as laterals, not gland-tipped; finger hairs absent; Type 2 hairs absent.  

Inflorescence leaf-opposed or supra-axillary, pseudo-racemose, common peduncle 0–2 mm long, rachis prickles absent; 7–20-flowered, strongly or weakly andromonoecious, flowers 5-merous; pedicels 2–9 mm long at anthesis, same thickness throughout, 0.2–0.4 mm thick at mid-point, prickles absent. Calyx tube 0.5–1.5 mm long, lobes deltate, 0.5–2 mm long; prickles absent at anthesis; stellae dense to very dense, white, 0.25–0.4 mm across, sessile, lateral rays 6–8, central ray 0.5–1 times as long as laterals, not gland-tipped; finger hairs absent; Type 2 hairs absent. Corolla mauve, 3–7 mm long, deeply lobed, inner surface glabrous; anthers 2.5–4 mm long; ovary glabrous.  

Fruiting calyx with lobes less than half length of mature fruit, prickles absent. Mature fruits 1 or 2 per inflorescence, globular, 10–14 mm diameter, red, 1-locular (septum absent or incomplete); placenta not apparent; mesocarp juicy, succulent; exocarp 0.4–0.5 mm thick; pedicels 13–18 mm long in fruit, 0.5–0.8 mm thick at mid-point; seeds pale yellow, 2.6–3.6 mm long.    

Another detailed description of this species can be found on the Bean interactive key site at http://delta-intkey.com/solanum/www/discolor.htm