Hosking 1282 , Hallsville, near Tamworth, NSW. Photo: J.R. Hosking © J.R. Hosking

Line drawing by M. Szent Ivany, J. Adelaide Bot. Gards 4 (1981) 62, fig. 12.

Distribution map generated from Australia's Virtual Herbarium.

Synonymy

*Solanum radicans L.f., Decas Prima Plantarum Rariorum Horti Upsaliensis 1: t. 10 (1762)

T: (not seen).

S. palitans C.V.Morton, Revis. Argentine Sp. Solanum 92, fig. 7e-h, fig. 8 (1976).

T: Yerba Buena, Tucuman Province, Argentina, 19 Jan. 1919, Venturi 159; US 1548805 n.v.; iso: BA, LIL, SI, LP n.v.

Description

Sprawling annual or perennial herb with stems sometimes to 2 m long, frequently rooting at nodes, green, almost glabrous to sparsely pubescent with glandular and simple, non-glandular hairs; prickles absent.

Leaves ovate; lamina 3–5 cm long, 1–2 cm wide, concolorous, deeply 3–lobed; lobes elliptic-obovate; petiole 10–15 mm long.

Inflorescence 4–10–flowered; peduncle c. 1 cm long; rachis to 1 cm long; pedicels 5 mm long. Calyx 2–3 mm long; lobes 1 mm long. Corolla stellate, to 10 mm diam., white. Anthers 1.5 mm long.

Berry globular, 4–5 mm diam., dull yellow-green. Seeds 1–1.5 mm long, pale buff. n=12.

A more complete description can be found at http://delta-intkey.com/solanum/www/radicans.htm

Distribution and ecology

Native to Argentina. Naturalised in N.S.W., where it is usually referred to as a 3-lobed variant of S. radicans L. Symon's earlier treatment used S. palitans as the name for this species.

Relationships

A member of subg. Potatoe, species of which are usually creepers or vines with deeply lobed leaves and lacking spines or stellate hairs. American in origin.

Other species of this group in Australia are S. dulcamara, S. laxum, S. seaforthianum, S. triflorum and S. tuberosum.

Recent molecular studies (Bohs 2005) place the species within the Morelloid clade with members of the Solanum nigrum complex. See the Solanaceae Source site for this alternative classification.

Bohs, L. (2005) Major clades in Solanum based in ndhF sequences. Pp. 27-49 in R. C. Keating, V. C. Hollowell, & T. B. Croat (eds.), A festschrift for William G. D’Arcy: the legacy of a taxonomist. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden, Vol. 104. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

Notes

Symon's earlier treatment used S. palitans as the name for this species and in searching for information on the web both names should be used since at this time they are treated as synonymous. Further work is required to work out whether this is truly so.

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From the web

Further information on this species in NSW can be seen on the PlantNET site as S. radicans.

Limited information and links for this species are presently available on the Solanaceae Source site as S. palitans and S. radicans but there are some images of herbarium specimens from BM and MO in particular.