Flora of New Zealand Series

viscid nightshade

Suberect annual herb to c. 1.5 m tall, stellate-hairy and glandular-viscid and sticky; stems, lvs and infl. prominently prickly; prickles to 1.7 cm long, orange-red, flattened and glandular-hairy towards base. Petioles to c. 4 cm long. Lamina to c. 14 × 8 cm, ± oblong-ovate, deeply pinnately and acutely lobed, with a distinct leaflet towards base, with hairs as on stems; base asymmetric. Cymes few-flowered; peduncles to c. 12 cm long, glandular-hairy and prickly; pedicels somewhat deflexed at fruiting. Calyx 5-8 mm long, densely glandular-hairy, ± prickly; lobes lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate. Corolla 2.5-3.5 cm diam., white or pale blue; lobes lanceolate or ovate, densely stellate-hairy outside, especially near midrib. Anthers c. 8.5 mm long. Berry 1-2 cm diam., globose, red, the lower 1/2 loosely enveloped in accrescent calyx; stone cells probably 0. Seed not seen.

N.: Henderson (near Auckland) and in hill country pasture near Katikati (Bay of Plenty).

Tropical America 1940

FL Mar-May.

Viscid nightshade is a troublesome weed in some countries, but has probably been eradicated from N.Z. where it has always been very rare since its discovery in 1935. Because of the very limited N.Z. material, the above description was drawn up with the aid of wild Australian specimens.