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Support Your [Alien] Solanum

I'm with Deborah on this one. Solanums certainly are weird but they're
just as certainly beautiful. Well, to these eyes, at least. So, sorry,
Gordon, no sympathy for your solanum-infested state. Rather, a cry of
'You should be so lucky'! In fact, here S. sisymbrifolium eventually
faded away and it certainly never self-seeded. The only one which does
that reliably for me is S. laciniatum - an amazing sight here at the
moment, since last winter was so mild it wasn't knocked back at all
and as a result it's now 15'x10', covered in hundreds of showy purple
flowers (as it has been for months) and also covered in hundreds of
fruit - some green, some yellow, some red. If you're looking for sheer
thorniness, S. pyrenacantha takes some beating (there were messages
about this on the list some months ago). There's a good combination of
huge tropical leaves and striking purply spines in S. quitoense -
which I should like to think was going to form fruit here, since I've
been told (I don't know how reliably) that this is one of the
non-poisonous edible ones and I think used as the basis of a soft
drink in its S.Am. home. Anyone on the list able to confirm this? And
what size/age is it likely to have to be before it fruits (supposing
it's going to)?

I'm reminded to ask another solanum question while I'm here. My S.
rantonetti - otherwise a splendid plant: nearly as big as the S.
laciniatum and even more profusely covered with flowers - doesn't set
seed. Since the flowers have exactly the same structure and the same
presumably inviting rich purple colour as S.l., my question is: WHY
NOT? Does it set seed with anyone else?

If you pass those solanums again, Deborah - after a healthy meal,
though, next time, ok?! -, I'd love to know what their names were. I'm
always keen to try more solanums - and one of the many nice things
about this bunch is that there are 100s and 100s of'em, so no
solanum-freak need ever get bored.
Tim Longville
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