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Solanum pyracanthos
Porcupine tomato is an evergreen shrub from Madagascar, grown for its striking orange thorns and year-round violet flowers. It is a sun-loving, warmth-needing plant that is sensitive to frost and produces many seeds.
Solanum pyracanthos, also known as the porcupine tomato, is an evergreen shrub native to tropical Madagascar. It belongs to the genus Solanum, a diverse and cosmopolitan genus with over 1,500 species including the tomato, potato, and eggplant.
The plant contains toxic tropane alkaloids in its leaves, stem and fruit and therefore should be considered dangerous to humans.
Solanum pyracanthos is grown ornamentally throughout the world. It requires moderate water and sun, a warm climate, and mildly acidic to mildly alkaline soil. The plant is a copious producer of seeds, and should therefore be handled carefully, as new saplings are aggressive growers and immediately produce their large thorns.
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 pyracanthos 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.
