Group characteristics

Erect shrubs, with entire or shallowly lobed adult leaves. Stem prickles and branchlet prickles straight, widened or not at base. Stellate hairs present in all parts. Inflorescences not branched. Flowers all more or less bisexual or mixed bisexual and male and all of similar size and prickliness, 5-merous, mauve or purple. Calyx with or without prickles. Corolla lobes glabrous or with sparse to dense hairs on inner face. Stamens with anthers all of similar size. Ovary glabrous, with multicellular glandular hairs only, with stellate hairs only or with mixed glandular and stellate hairs. Mature fruits green to yellowish green, often streaked, rarely red or orange, mesocarp moist not juicy, 1-4-locular, 12-28 mm diameter; calyx lobes usually less than, rarely more than, half length of mature fruit.

Distribution

24 species endemic in Australia.

Note

The presence of S. cinereum in this group is not supported by the molecular study of Martine et al. (2006). Rather its closest relationships seem to be with two other andromonoecious species from easternAustralia, S. stupefactum and S. campanulatum.

Reference: Martine, C.T., D. Vanderpool, G.J. Anderson, and D.H. Les (2006). Phylogenetic relationships of andromonoecious and dioecious Australian species of Solanum subgenus Leptostemonum section Melongena: Inferences from ITS sequence data. Systematic Botany 31: 410-420.

Australian members of group

Members of the S. macoorai group of Solanum subgenus Leptostemonum (Bean 2004).

S. acanthodapis

S. amblymerum

S. armourense

S. brownii

S. celatum

S. centrale

S. cinereum

S. cocosoides

S, curvicuspe

S. dumicola

S. francisii

S. furfuraceum

S. galbinum

S. intonsum

S. jucundum

S. limitare

S. macoorai

S. magnifolium

S. neoanglicum

S. nobile

S. rixosum

S. serpens

S. silvestre

S. sporadotrichum

S. tetrathecum

See Bean, A.R. (2004). The taxonomy and ecology of Solanum subg. Leptostemonum (Dunal)Bitter (Solanaceae) in Queensland and far north-eastern New South Wales, Australia. Austrobaileya 6: 639-816.