Glowing nightshade

Herbs or shrubs, annual or ­perennial, erect, unarmed, to 1 m, sparsely to moderately pubes­cent, hairs unbranched, to 1 mm, eglandular. Leaves petio­late; petiole 0.5–3 cm; blade simple, elliptic to lan­ceolate, 1.5–8 × 1–4 cm, margins entire or nearly so, base cuneate to attenuate. Inflorescences extra-axillary, unbranched or rarely forked, umbel-like, 3–8-flowered, 1–2 cm. Pedi­cels 0.5–1 cm in flower and fruit, recurved to reflexed in fruit. Flowers radially symmetric; calyx not accrescent, unarmed, 1.5–3 mm, sparsely pubescent, lobes deltate, reflexed in fruit; corolla white with yellowish central star, stellate, 1–1.5 cm diam., with sparse interpetalar tissue; stamens equal; anthers ellip­soidal, 2–3 mm, dehiscent by terminal pores that open into longitudinal slits; ovary glabrous. Berries dull purplish black, globose, 0.5–1.5 cm diam., glabrous, without (or rarely with 2) sclerotic granules. Seeds pale yellow, flattened, 1–1.3 × 0.8–0.9 mm, minutely pitted. 2n = 24.

Flowering May–Oct (year-round in Fla.). Coastal dunes, margins of maritime forests, brackish marshes; 0–400 m; Ala., Fla., Ga., La., Miss., N.C., S.C., Tex.

Solanum pseudogracile is very similar to and perhaps not distinct from S. chenopodioides. It is ecologically distinctive, occurring in sand dunes and salt marshes of the Atlantic and eastern Gulf Coastal Plain and inland in some parts of Florida and Georgia.