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Solanum gilo
Also called Gilo, Chinese Scarlet Eggplant, Ethiopian Nightshade, Kumba, Shum, Tomato Fruit Eggplant
Scarlet eggplant (gilo) is a fruiting nightshade, a cultivar group of Solanum aethiopicum, grown mainly for its bitter green fruit that is cooked as a vegetable. It needs warm, sunny conditions and a long frost-free season.
The scarlet eggplant is a fruiting plant of the genus Solanum, related to the tomato and eggplant. Its green fruit is known as gilo (Brazilian Portuguese: jiló, from Kimbundu njilu). It was once treated as a distinct species, Solanum gilo, but it is now known to be a cultivar group of Solanum aethiopicum (the Ethiopian eggplant or nakati).
Gilo was brought to Brazil from West Africa during the slave trade. It is still grown in West Africa, where it is sometimes called "garden eggs."
Dwarf Tamarillo · Solanum acaule · Sodaapple nightshade · Ethiopian nightshade · American black nightshade · Solanum arcanum · New Zealand nightshade · Solanum berthaultii · Tamarillo · Solanum brevicaule · Solanum cajanumense · Bitter Apple
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Scarlet eggplant 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.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
