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chudak

Hi,

I have a couple of plants that came up this year in the middle of the yard. They don't look like anything I planted last year (they are REALLY healthy).

Here's a shot of one of them--it's about 2 feet tall and 2-3 feet wide. It already is fruiting--the fruits are in clusters of 5-6 and are about pea sized.

http://picasaweb.google.com/meadandale/Garden2009#5328075249420801154

Anyone have any ideas on what variety this could be? I'm not familiar with anything that fruits in clusters like this.

Thanks!

Charles
 
That looks like goosefoot, or rather some kind of goosefoot. Does it taste like spinach and/or smell fishy when you crush leaves?
 
Vespucci said:
That looks like goosefoot, or rather some kind of goosefoot. Does it taste like spinach and/or smell fishy when you crush leaves?
Click to expand...

I haven't tried eating it or crushing the leaves. I'll give that a try but I have to say, it's been flowering for over a month and it looks JUST like a flowering pepper plant.

I'll post some close up picks of the fruit tomorrow when it's light out.
 
chudak said:
I haven't tried eating it or crushing the leaves. I'll give that a try but I have to say, it's been flowering for over a month and it looks JUST like a flowering pepper plant.

I'll post some close up picks of the fruit tomorrow when it's light out.
Click to expand...

Edit: See below posts.
 
WAIT! I know what it is! DO NOT EAT IT!

It's either a Solanum Americanum, a.k.a. American nightshade
or a Solanum Nigrum, a.k.a. Black Nightshade

Either way, it's deadly! Do Not Attempt to eat!


Heres a Solanum Americanum.

Solanum_americanum_plant.jpg


I Noticed some of the flowers looked like this.

Solanum_americanum_flowers.jpg


Fruits look like:

Solanum_americanum_fruits.jpg


DEAD GIVEAWAY, Pun Intended.
 
you totally win the goodeye award. :banghead: I have no excuse for missing that one. Hopefully he hasn't eaten more than a leaf. . . ugggh . . . you can bet I'll be checking this thread constantly.
 
I think he's dead! :shocked:
No worries, it's not as bad as that one time when I told someone to eat Castor Bean seeds. :lol:
 
Vespucci said:
ouch dude
Click to expand...
I thought it was obvious I'm joking. Castor Beans will kill you. not just "hurt you", but kill you. so you actually thinking I did made me laugh so hard I nearly wet my pants. if that was really the case, I would have been in jail right now. :lol:
 
I had that plant come up in my yard last year and could not figure out what it was till now. The stem ended up getting more woody than a pepper plant but at that age it is difficult to tell apart. The berries on my plant looked exactly like those, glad I didn't taste test a few. Whew...
 
Pepper Ridge Farm said:
I had that plant come up in my yard last year and could not figure out what it was till now. The stem ended up getting more woody than a pepper plant but at that age it is difficult to tell apart. The berries on my plant looked exactly like those, glad I didn't taste test a few. Whew...
Click to expand...

The clusters of berries look EXACTLY like the black nightshade and the leaves are a pretty close match too. And, yep, the stalks are much thicker than pepper plants would be. There is also one berry that has already turned black (as indicated they do below).

http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/weeds/plants/black_nightshade.htm

Now, the question is where on earth did these plants come from. There are 3 coming up in my yard and there have never been any nightshade here. I don't know of any of my nearby neighbors that have it and I don't even think it grows wild here in San Diego.

Thanks for the heads up folks!! Glad I didn't taste any of the small fruits :shocked:
 
Some animal may have pooped them there. I'm guessing a bird. Sometimes the alkaloids that effect humans won't effect other animals.

Glad you didn't eat any of the fruit. In fact, don't eat any part of these guys, and if you have children or dogs, you may want to get rid of them. However, I think they're beautiful plants, and I personally have a soft spot for any solonaceous plant, especially the extremely toxic ones like this, and Datura. If there's no danger of someone/something you love taking a bite of these, I say leave them!
 
Here are the close up shots...

nightshadeberries.jpg


nightshadeflowers.jpg


nightshadefoilage.jpg


I guess that considering peppers are in the same family (Solanaceae) as nightshade that it's not surprising that the plants and flowers are morphologically very similar.
 
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