Redberry nightshade

Herbs, annual, usually spread­ing, densely armed, to 0.5(–1) m, prickles pale yellow, straight, to 10 mm, sparsely to densely tomentose, hairs nearly sessile to thick-stalked, stellate, 4–9-rayed, central ray equal to or slightly longer than lateral rays. Leaves petiolate; petiole 1–5 cm; blade simple, ovate, 4–13 × 3–12 cm, margins deeply lobed with 2–4 lobes per side, these with additional coarse, acute teeth or shallow lobes, base cordate. Inflorescences extra-axillary, unbranched, 1–3(–6)-flowered, 0.5–2(–5) cm. Pedicels 0.5–1 cm in flower, 1–2 cm in fruit. Flowers radially symmetric; calyx somewhat accrescent and partially covering fruit, densely prickly, 4–6 mm, densely stellate-pubescent, lobes narrowly triangular; corolla white, bluish white, blue, or lilac, rotate-campanulate, 1–1.5 cm diam., with abundant interpetalar tissue; stamens equal; anthers narrow and tapered, 2–5 mm, dehiscent by terminal pores; ovary glabrous. Berries purplish, greenish, or yellowish, globose, 1.5–2 cm diam., glabrous, without sclerotic granules. Seeds yellowish brown, flattened, 1.8–3 × 1.4–2 mm, pustulate.

Flowering Feb–Dec. Muddy edges of ephemeral lakes and streams, tropical and subtropical dry forest; 0–100 m; Tex.; Mexico (Chiapas, Jalisco, Oaxaca, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Yucatán); West Indies; Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras); South America (Ecuador, Peru).

In the flora region, Solanum campechiense is found in southernmost Texas. Although D. S. Correll and M. C. Johnston (1970) stated that the fruits are cherry-red at maturity, the specimens seen indicate that they turn purplish when ripe.