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Re: Solanum aviculare

Tim Longville wrote
> 
> David: Don't knock the North! Remember Logan and Inverewe? I.e., it
> all (well, mostly) depends on how close you are to the sea. I'm
> perched right over the Solway so we rarely get much frost. As a
> result, I can grow stuff which friends in inland Devon and Dorset
> can't.
> 
> I don't think I've ever grown actual S. aviculare. I certainly don't
> at the moment. Though the general growth habit as you describe it
> sounds very similar to my S.a. latifolium, the flowers definitely
> don't. S.a.l. has pale blue-mauve flowers and they're not flat but
> hooded or capped: more shy charm than extrovert razzmatazz. (not many
> solanums go in for shy charm!) I wonder if this difference keys out in
> a New Zealand flora. Does any Kiwi out there happen to know? Or would
> he/she be kind enough to look'em up and tell us the results? I
> certainly agree about salty winds: definitely not appreciated. S.
> laciniatum doesn't like'em either. Makes you wonder how these plants
> get on in the wild in places like Three Kings Island!
> 
> S.a.l. doesn't self-sow much here. Some years, not at all. Never in
> the swathes of S.laciniatum. Which is a virtue or a vice, depending on
> whether you've saved seed and on whether an exceptionally cold snap
> wipes out all your original plants.
> 
> Would you be interested in a swap of seeds of S. a. and S. a. l.??

Dear Tim

Living in the North Island Of New Zealand where S aviculare is a common
wild plant, I have never actually has it arrive in my garden, though it
has occurred from time to time in other properties in the street. I
think many of us would tolerate it if it appeared but would consider it
too scruffy and straggly to get very enthusiastic over or to introduce
deliberately. I see people who deal with the cultivation of native
plants such as Laurie Metcalf, insist that to get compact growth and
good flowering it must be given a poor soil.

I can find no trace in local literature, even the NZ flora, of your S
aviculare latifolium. The only variety cited in the flora is albiflorum,
which, as one might expect, has white flowers and is generally more
slender and weedy in growth than the species.

A second native species is S laciniatum, which appears to be altogether
a better garden plant than S aviculare, having deep blue-purple flowers
4-5cm in diameter with a rather flat, open corollas. It also,
distinguishing it from aviculare, has purplish stems and dark leaf
veining and is more vigorous in growth..

The range of the two species is somewhat different S aviculare occurring
principally in the warmer northern areas (Including the Three Kings)
while S laciniatum is able to cope with the cooler winters of South
Island. The two ranges overlap around central New Zealand. The same two
species also occur in Australia with a comparable distribution.

A few years ago S aviculare was temporarily cultivated as a source of
some component of contraceptives, but this was a short-lived industry as
the relevant chemical was very soon synthesized.

Moira Ryan
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, New Zealand
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