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Solanum lasiocarpum
Indian nightshade is a tropical Asian shrub or subshrub grown for its edible, pale yellow hairy-fruited eggplant-like berries, used as a sour relish in curries and sauces. It thrives in warm, humid conditions with regular moisture and full sun.
Solanum lasiocarpum, synonym Solanum ferox L., otherwise known as Indian nightshade or hairy-fruited eggplant, is a plant that produces edible fruit. Its flowers are white and its fruits are pale yellow.
S. lasiocarpum is found wild in parts of temperate and tropical Asia: the Andaman Islands, Sri Lanka, Indochina, south China, Taiwan, much of Malesia, Papuasia and Queensland, Australia. In other countries it is primarily known as a domesticated plant. Domesticated plants bear larger fruits and lack the prickly skin that is found in the wild plants. The color found in the center of fruit is light green, like that of Solanum quitoense. It's cultivated in tropical Asia, used in food additives for flavoring, and given to the sick as a folk medicine. In India, the locals use the fruit as a sour-relish in curries. In Thailand, a special kind of sauce called nam prek is made with the fruit.
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 Solanum lasiocarpum 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.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
