Common Name:

General Information

Solanum capsicoides is an annual to short-lived perennial plant with stems that become more or less woody. A much-branched plant, the prickly stems sprawling and often appearing scandent; it can grow 30 - 100cm tall, occasionally to 200cm[, , ].
The plant is sometimes harvested from the wild for local use as a food and medicine. It is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental for its decorative fruits[, ]..

Known Hazards

The fruits are poisonous[].
Suspected of being poisonous to stock but the evidence is not conclusive[].
Although providing many well-known foods for people, including the potato, tomato, pepper and aubergine, most species in this genus also contain toxic alkaloids. Whilst these alkaloids can make the plant useful in treaing a range of medical conditions, they can also cause problems such as nausea, vomiting, salivation, drowsiness, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, weakness and respiratory depression[].
Unless there are specific entries with information on edible uses, it would be unwise to ingest any part of this plant[].

Botanical References

Range

Originally native of coastal Brazil, it is spreading as a cultivated plant and weed throughout tropical and subtropical areas of the world.

Habitat

An often abundant weed in unshaded disturbed artificial weedy habitats such as roadsides, waste places, pastures, old coffee plantations, stream banks, beaches, cultivated land (presumably the edges), open woods and around dwellings[].

Properties

Weed Potential	Yes
Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Habit	Annual/Perennial
Height	0.75 m
Cultivation Status	Ornamental, Wild

Cultivation Details

A lowland species of humid or seasonally humid warm subtropical or tropical areas nearly or quite free from frost at elevations up to 1,500 metres[].
Probably preferring sandy habitats but also recorded from wet alluvial clay and limestone derived soils[].
The plant is widely grown for its ornamental fruit, and is now naturalized in many areas of the tropics[].
Plants can flower all year round[].

Edible Uses

The fruits are edible when roasted or cooked in curry[].The fruit is poisonous[]. Children have been observed eating the soft inner pericarp which has a faint banana flavour. This practice cannot be condoned[].
The orange-red, globose to depressed globose fruit is 25 - 30mm in diameter[].

Medicinal

The fruits, charred and pounded in oil, are used to treat skin complaints[].

The pounded roots have been applied to the gums as a remedy against toothache[].

The smoke of dried, pounded and burned seeds has been inhaled to cure an ulcerated nose[].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed - sow in trays in a nursery. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and grow them on fast. Plant them out when 10cm or more tall.

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