Solanum diflorum Vell.
Jerusalem cherry
Small shrub, with few-branched hairs, bushy, unarmed, with stems to c. 50 cm tall. Petioles to c. 3-(3.5) cm long. Lamina 2.5-14-(20) × 0.7-8-(11) cm, lanceolate to lanceolate-oblong or elliptic, sinuate or entire, dull green above; hairs scattered, few-branched, mainly below and on midrib above at maturity, dense when young, sometimes with simple hairs as well; base attenuate; apex obtuse. Fls usually solitary or in clusters of 2-4; pedicels to 1.5 cm long, stellate-hairy, ± erect at fruiting. Calyx c. 5 mm long, with few-branched hairs, accrescent, deeply divided; lobes linear or linear-lanceolate. Corolla 10-14 mm diam., white, glabrous; lobes ovate. Anthers 2-2.5 mm long. Berry 1- c. 1.5 cm diam., usually globose, sometimes ovoid, scarlet or orange-red; stone cells 0. Seed 2.5-3 mm long, irregular, somewhat obovoid.
N.: scattered localities from Auckland S.; S.: Nelson, occasional.
Temperate eastern S. America 1958
Mostly forest and plantation margins and clearings in the vicinity of settled areas, street gutters, cultivation escape.
FL Jan-Dec.
Because S. diflorum is so closely related to S. pseudocapsicum it must also be treated as poisonous (Connor 1977).
This sp. is closely related to S. pseudocapsicum and is sometimes treated as a subsp. of it. It is often confused with S. pseudocapsicum, but can be satisfactorily distinguished by its hairs which are dense on young shoots and very young lvs, but become ± scattered on older shoots and lvs. It seems to be less common than S. pseudocapsicum in N.Z. S. diflorum is usually called S. capsicastrum in N.Z.
