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Solandra grandiflora
Showy chalicevine is a woody climbing vine in the nightshade family, grown for its large, fragrant, trumpet-shaped yellow flowers. It needs a warm, frost-free climate or a large greenhouse, plenty of light and room to climb.
Solandra grandiflora, the showy chalicevine, or papaturra is a member of the nightshade (Solanaceae) genus Solandra and, like the other members of the genus, is a climbing plant with large, attractive, trumpet-shaped flowers. It is native to Central America and northern South America and is widely grown in the tropics as an ornamental. The green parts of the plant are highly toxic (hallucinogenic / delirient in small doses), due to tropane alkaloid content, and have caused deaths from anticholinergic poisoning, but the flesh of the ripe fruit (although not the unripe fruit or seeds) is said to be edible. The fruits, which are globular and largely enclosed by the accrescent calyces, can reach a kilogram in weight and have a taste described as apple-like or melon-like.
Symptoms caused by ingestion of plant parts - even from chewing fragments of flowers - include dryness of throat, headache, weakness, fever, delirium, hallucinations and potentially fatal circulatory and respiratory failure.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Solandra grandiflora by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
