Family: Solanaceae
Solanum lacunarium
Citation:
F. Muell., Trans. Phil. Soc. Vic. 1:18 (1854).
Synonymy: Not Applicable Common name: Lagoon nightshade.
Description:
An erect or sprawling clonal herbaceous perennial 5-25 cm tall, somewhat sparsely branched, or an erect simple stem; prickles to 5 mm long, unequal, straight or slightly recurved, some flattened or broad-based, almost always conspicuous and a rich reddish-brown, abundant on petioles, leaf surfaces, less common on stems, peduncles and pedicels; all parts with a tomentum of close minute stellate hairs, sparse on stems and upper leaf surfaces, dense below, general aspect sometimes reddish due to prickles; leaves discolorous, variable in size and lobing, smaller leaves may be 1 x 0.5 cm, larger ones to 7 x 3 cm, elliptic, with 5-9 lobes, shallow or deeply cut (to the mid-vein), lobes 2-15 x 1.5-4 mm, oblong, entire or with shallow lobes, sinuses broad and rounded, leaf and lobe apices rounded, base cuneate to truncate, usually oblique; petiole 0.5-1.5 rarely 3 cm long.
Inflorescence a cyme of 4-10 flowers occasionally branched; peduncle 1-3 cm long; floral rhachis 1-3 cm long; pedicel c. 1 cm, slender; calyx tube 2-3 mm long, lobes short, triangular; corolla 1.5-3 cm diam., 4- or 5-partite, rotate-pentagonal, blue; filaments 1-2 mm long; anthers 3-4 mm long, oblong-attenuate, loosely erect to divergent; ovary c. 1 mm long, globular; style c. 7 mm long, erect; stigma green.
Fruiting peduncle and axis lengthened to 12 cm, maturing 1-8 fruits; pedicels 1-1.5 cm long, deflexed; calyx somewhat enlarged to cover the base of the fruit, lobes broad-triangular; berry 1-1.5 cm diam., globular or depressed-globular, marbled-green, later pale-yellow, not notably succulent; seeds 3-4 mm long, (relatively large), a very light-grey, minutely pitted.
| Flowering and fruiting branch and a fruit.
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Image source: fig. 576B in Jessop J.P. & Toelken H.R. (Ed.) 1986. Flora of South Australia (4th edn).
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Published illustration:
Cunningham et al. (1982) Plants of western New South Wales, p. 593.
Distribution:
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Confined to flood plains of the River Murray and a few inland rivers.
S.Aust.: LE, GT, FR, MU. Qld; N.S.W.; Vic.
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Conservation status:
native
Flowering time: Oct. — April.
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SA Distribution Map based
on current data relating to
specimens held in the
State Herbarium of South Australia
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Biology:
No text
Author:
Not yet available
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