Chaparral Nightshade
Solanum xanti, Nightshade Family ( Solanaceae ), Chaparral Nightshade: Also called Purple Nightshade.
Herb, Perennial, native to the USA.
Height: Up To About 3 feet. Spreading out to about 5 foot wide.
Flowers: Violet - blue. The flowers have 5 lobes, 5 stamens, and are 1 inch in diameter. The flowers have 5 fused petals, ¾ inch across, with bright yellow stamens. Flowers grow on stalks in clusters or singly at the end of stems or branches.
Blooming Time: May to October.
Leaves: The silvery leaves are oblong to lance-shaped with wavy edges. Poisonous. The leaves are 1 to 4 inches long by 1 inch wide, they are covered with short, silvery-white, star-shaped hairs that give the plant a dusky or silvery-gray color.
Fruit: The fruits are yellow to brownish, juicy berries, ½ inch in diameter. Seeds are flat, brown and 1/10 to 1/5 inch long.
Shape: Prostrate, branched, radiating to 5 feet from top of taproot, hairy, becoming nearly glabrous.
Elevation: 0 - 4500 Feet.
Habitat: Chaparral.
Miscellaneous: Flowering Photos Taken March 16, 2009. Horseshoe Lake, Arizona.
