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Solanum sturtianum
Also called Sturt's Nightshade
Solanum sturtianum, commonly known as Sturt’s nightshade or Thargomindah nightshade, is a flowering plant from the Solanaceae (nightshade) family. Distinct by its purple flowers and dark-black fruits, it is a shrub endemic to the arid zones of mainland Australia.
S. sturtianum is extremely toxic to animals when consumed, with most cases seen in sheep and cattle travelling along stock routes. This poisoning occurs through glycoalkaloid, a secondary metabolite found in the plant. Glycoalkaloids play an important role in preventing snails, and other pest species from consuming the leaves and fruit, however they also have subsequent effects on larger grazing animals. The toxin is found predominantly in the unripe fruit which is common to most poisonous members of the Solanum genus. Clinical signs appear in poisoned animals after water consumption. The toxin causes gastrointestinal upset resulting in blood in the faeces, drowsiness, weakness, restlessness, and ultimately death. This can be caused by as little as 400 grams of consumption in sheep and 700 grams in cattle.
The S. sturtianum is native to Australia. The distribution map emphasizes areas where it has been observed with over 940 recorded observations by the Australasian Virtual Herbarium. The distribution includes the arid zones of most states however there is a notably large presence in Western Australia. This is as to be expected as 26 out of the 70 from the Solanum genus that are endemic to Australia are solely found in Western Australia. It is not present in Victoria however in 2011 there was a singular case on the Victorian border.
Nightshade · Dwarf Tamarillo · Solanum acaule · Solanum acerifolium · Sodaapple nightshade · Dutch Eggplant · Solanum adenophorum · Solanum adoxum · Sonoita nightshade · Ethiopian nightshade · Solanum africanum · Solanum agnewiorum
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Solanum sturtianum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
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.
