Solanum pseudocapsicum L.
Jerusalem cherry
Erect, unarmed shrub, glabrous or sometimes with few-branched hairs on very young shoots; stems wiry, 40-120-(200) cm tall. Petiole to 2 cm long, slender. Lamina 3-12 × 1-3 cm, lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, glossy above; margins usually undulate; base narrowly attenuate; apex obtuse or acute. Fls 1-several; peduncle 0-8 mm long; pedicels 5-10 mm long, erect at fruiting. Calyx 4-5 mm long; lobes lanceolate to ovate, slightly accrescent. Corolla c. 15 mm diam., white, glabrous; lobes oblong-ovate to ± triangular. Anthers 2.5-3 mm long. Berry 1.5-2 cm diam., globose, glossy, orange to scarlet, long-persistent; stone cells 0. Seeds c. 3 mm diam., suborbicular to reniform or obovoid, rather asymmetric; margin thickened.
N.; S.: many localities, especially in warmer areas.
Eastern S. America 1935
Garden escape in and around hedgerows, plantations, remnant forest stands and shady waste places.
FL Oct-May.
Poisonous (Connor 1977).
S. pseudocapsicum is a common garden plant often mistakenly thought to come from the Old World. The attractive red berries are eaten by birds which are the main means of seed dispersal. The only nightshade with which it is likely to be confused is the closely related S. diflorum and both spp. are called Jerusalem cherry. The latter is apparently rarer in the wild and in cultivation. It can only be satisfactorily distinguished from the glabrous or glabrate S. pseudocapsicum by the dense stellate hairs on the young shoots and very young lvs, and the ± hairy or glabrate mature lvs; the degree of shininess of the upper lf surface is of little use as a distinguishing character. Both spp. are very attractive to children and thus are especially dangerous to them.
