#solanums

[walks-the-garden]

Baby pictures! The Solanum Integrifolium (Pumpkin on a Stick eggplant) and Solanum Macrocarpon (Edible Greens Eggplant) sprouted! This picture is actually from the day before yesterday, so there's even more seedlings now, and the S. Macrocarpon has a proper leaf mulch layer :)

[ID: three images: the first two show a black three gallon bucket of potting soil with a few dried, crumbled leaves in it that is labeled "Solanum Macrocarpon, Gbonome Greens" which has a small green seedling, the first picture shows the whole bucket while the second is zoomed in on the seedlin for detail.

The third image is of another plant pot that has cedar chips for mulch, which is labeled "Solanum Integrifolium" and has a small seedling visible. There is also a discarded Capsicum Baccatum flower off to the side from the plant above it shedding it's flowers as it produces peppers. End ID]

[walks-the-garden]

Two fer one! Solanum Quitoense Daily Update,

August 11th and 12th, 2022.

The growth and movement of that baby leaf in the center is really highlighted by seeing two days side by side! First picture is the 11th, second is from today, the 12th!

[ID: a photo of a young Naranjilla plant, which has four main leaves: three are large, while in the center a young leaf is still slightly curled up. The leaves are bright green, with purple veins, and spiky purple thorns going along each leaf along the veins. The entire plant is pubescent, which is highlighted in silver in some parts from the recent rain, almost completely obscuring the fuzzy baby leaf in the center, which it pointing up in the air. End ID]

[ID: the same Naranjilla plant described above, slightly drier and more perky, the leaf in the center still has it's fuzz turned silver with refracted light from the rain water stuck to it, but the leaf has now visibly moved slightly from it's upright baby position and is moving to point down and outwards like a mature leaf. End ID]

[walks-the-garden]

Solanum Aethiopicum, aka Ethiopian Eggplant!

Specifically the variety Brazilian Oval Orange :)

For those who are unaware, most Eggplants are Solanum Melongena, and there's hundreds if not thousands of varieties within that species that range from grocery store typical Black Beauty black color to light lavender, white, or striped, and the flowers are usually lavender or deeper purple.

But here with Solanum Aethiopicum, we have bright white flowers that turn into light green fruits that have dark green stripes when best suited for cooking, and eventually turn solid, reddish orange when mature enough to save seeds from :)

[walks-the-garden]

Here's some of the wild, native, perennial nightshades growing at our local park!

Solanum Carolinense, aka Carolina Horsenettle, very spiny and also toxic to humans, but an important food source for native birds including wild turkeys and quail!

These guys spread through both seeds and underground runners, so they're considered a noxious weed in a few states outside their native range; one site I just found says one plant can produce up to 5,000 seeds, which require cold stratification before they will sprout, meanwhile, the plants roots send up new shoots each spring during the warmer months.

Here's some pictures of the flowers, and immature fruit; from Google we know that when the fruit are actually mature, they'll turn orange/yellow and usually hang around on the plant all winter even after the leaves and stems have died back completely.

Some plants had lavender purple flowers. While others had pure white, sometimes both on the plant at the same time! I believe that like some other nightshades, the flowers start out purple and turn white as they age over the course of a day or two.

If you're ever walking down a park or forest path, keep your eyes peeled! Nightshade/Solanacae flowers are one of the easiest things to recognize, and they come in all sizes, with many of them having at least a handful of different species native to each US state, a few of which are edible, like the wild Groundcherries that can be found all over the United States!