RE: Mystery Potato

Paul (and all):

The only photograph of Solanum aviculare I've been able to locate on the
Internet, at:  http://155.187.10.12/images/photo_cd/519816120330/054.html,
has similar leaves, but the habit is quite different.  My plants didn't set
fruit last year, so I don't know what they look like, but mine is a strictly
upright herbaceous plant with distinctly reddish-maroon, non-woody stems.
The tallest stems are something less than a meter in length.  Although I
haven't been able to locate a photograph of S. laciniatum on the net, from
Dave Poole's description and the descriptions I've read, I don't think it's
that plant, either.  So, I'm at a loss.  Anyone else have any ideas?  BTW,
the fruits of S. aviculare and S. laciniatum (common name:  Kangaroo Apple)
were eaten by the Maori and by Australian aborigines.  The unripe fruit is
poisonous, and they were generally roasted before being eaten.  Thanks.

Kurt  


Kurt-
Its solanum aviculare..
paul



All:

I need some help identifying a mystery potato.  I purchased a plant last
year
that was just labeled "Potato Vine," although it clearly wasn't a vine.  It
is an upright, herbaceous perennial in the Solanaceae.  It might even be in
the genus Solanum.  The maroon-colored, upright stems are .5m to nearly one
meter in length. The branches and leaves are opposite.  The leaves are dark
green, lanceolate, entire to irregularly toothed, and 5 to 15cm in length.
The rich purple-blue flowers are large, around 4cm across, the 5 petals
uniting into a tubular corolla around 3cm in length.  They appear in
clusters
of 2 to 4 on branched stems arising in the axils of the leaves, although
usually only one flower per cluster is open at a time.  The plant died
completely back this winter, and I cut it to the ground, but it came back
from the roots and even sent up a couple of wandering shoots nearby, so it
shows some tendency to spread, albeit slowly.  Anyway, I'd like to know what
it is, and if any of you recognize it from this description, please drop me
a
line.  Thanks.

Kurt Mize
Stockton, California
USDA Zone 9
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