Woody vines, twining by the petioles. Stems terete, glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Leaves simple or more often pinnatifid or pinnately lobed with up to 4 pairs of leaflets, (2-) 3.5-10(-13) x (1-)2-9(-11) cm, elliptic to broadly triangular in outline, widest in the basal third, membranous, the upper surfaces glabrous or with tiny simple uniseriate trichomes on the veins and margins, the lower surfaces glabrous;base acute, truncate or slightly cordate, occasionally oblique and asymmetric;margins less commonly entire, usually 3-7 lobed, the lobes to 5 x 2 cm, smaller basiscopically;apex acute to acuminate;petioles 1-4 cm long. Inflorescences terminal, later lateral, to 25 or more cm long, with many open, divaricate branches, with up to 100 or more flowers, glabrous;pedicels 0.8-1.4 cm, Flowers all perfect, 5-merous. Buds globose, slightly inflated, the corolla strongly exserted from the calyx tube long before anthesis. Calyx tube approximately 0.5 mm, flattened and open, the lobes 0.2 mm long, Corolla 1.1-2.5 cm in diameter, violet or pale violet, stellate-rotate, lobed ½ to 2/3 of the way to the base, the lobes 5-9 x 3-4.5 mm, spreading or slightly cupped at anthesis, densely and minutely pubescent on the tips and margins;free portion of filaments markedly unequal, the longest filament 2-3 mm, glabrous;anthers 2-3 x 1-1.5 mm, occasionally one anther slightly larger, ellipsoid, loosely connivent, yellow, poricidal;ovary glabrous;style 7-10 mm long, stigma capitate, minutely papillose. Fruit a globose berry, 0.8-1.4 cm in diameter, bright shiny red when ripe, glabrous, the pericarp thin;Seeds 4-20 per berry, 4-4.5 x 2.5-3 mm, flattened-reniform, pale yellowish tan, the surfaces minutely pitted (Knapp, 2010).
Related invasive species
- Solanum seaforthianum
Related Farm Practice
- Hosts
- Orchards
S. seaforthianum is a very aggressive woody vine with the capacity to invade natural forests, natural grasslands, forest margins, urban bushland, riverbanks, crops, pastures, roadsides, disturbed sites, and waste areas (ISSG, 2008;PIER, 2014, USDA-ARS, 2014). Plants of S. seaforthianum produce hundreds of small seeds which can be easily dispersed by birds, cattle, and by watercourses (Gallagher et al., 2010;Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, 2011;BioNET-EAFRINET, 2014). Once established, S. seaforthianum is able to grow forming dense monocultures that overtop and smother native plant species. S. seaforthianum is included in the Global Compendium of Weeds (Randall, 2012) and is also listed as an invasive plant and/or noxious weed in China, India, Taiwan, Namibia, South Africa, Cuba, Puerto Rico and several islands in the Pacific Ocean including Hawaii, French Polynesia, and New Caledonia.
S. seaforthianum is listed as a common weed in groves, hedgerows, and waste areas in many tropical fruit orchards (i.e., lime, avocado, and mango groves) in South Florida (Crane et al., 2008).