Solanum nigrum L.

Solanum nigrum (European Black Nightshade or locally just "black nightshade", Duscle, Garden Nightshade, Hound's Berry, Petty Morel, Wonder Berry, Small-fruited black nightshade or popolo) is a species in the Solanum genus, native toEurasia and introduced in the Americas,Australasia and South Africa. Parts of this plant can be highly toxic to livestock and humans, and it's considered a weed. Nonetheless, ripe berries and cooked leaves of edible strains are used as food in some locales; and plant parts are used as a traditional medicine. There is a tendency in literature to incorrectly refer to many of the other "black nightshade" species as "Solanum nigrum".

S. nigrum is recorded from deposits of the Paleolithic and Mesolithic era of ancient Britain and it is suggested by the botanist and ecologist, Edward Salisbury, that it was part of the native flora there before Neolithic agriculture emerged. The species was mentioned by Pliny the Elderin the 1st century AD and by the great herbalists, including Dioscorides. In 1753 Carl Linnaeus described six varieties of Solanum nigrum in Species Plantarum. In 1820 Desfosses described the principal toxic glycoalkaloidin black nightshade, solanine, extracted from ripe berries.

Photographer: Talbot, Michael. Publisher: Talbot, Michael.