Solanum polygamum Vahl

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Solanaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Solanum polygamum Vahl

  • Description

    Species Description - Armed shrub 1-4 m tall; stems stellate-tomentulose, ash to rusty-brown-colored, nearly cylindrical, often with straight, slender, yellowish spines. Leaf blades 2.5-11 x 2.2-4.5 cm, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, coriaceous, sparsely to densely stellatepubescent, sometimes sparsely spiny along upper surface, the apex obtuse, acute to shortly acuminate, the base unequal, roundedobtuse or rounded-truncate to cordate, the margins entire; petioles 0.5-2.2 cm long, stout, stellate-tomentose, sometimes spiny. Flowers 4-5-merous, staminate or bisexual, with deeply lobed, white corolla. Staminate flowers in lateral cymes; the axes 2-6 cm long, stellate-pubescent; pedicels ca. 5 mm long, stellatepubescent; calyx bell-shaped, ca. 2.5 mm long, stellate-pubescent, the sepals ovate; corolla lobes oblong, spreading, 5-7 mm long, sparsely stellate-pubescent without; anthers 4 or 5, connivent, yellow, oblong, 2.8-3 mm long. Bisexual flowers slightly larger than the staminate, solitary, subterminal; calyx 7-15 mm long, often spiny; corolla lobes 1-1.5 cm long; stamens 5-7; ovary densely tomentose. Berry fleshy, depressed-globose, 1.5-2 cm wide, stellate-pubescent, turning from green to bright orange, subtended by an accrescent calyx. Seeds numerous, beige, kidneyshaped, 4.5-5 mm long.

  • Discussion

    Common names: kackalake berry, kakalaka, kakker lakka.

  • Distribution

    A common shrub of dry forests and open disturbed areas. Coral Bay (A2689), Susannaberg (A4155). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, including Vieques.

    Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Tortola Virgin Islands South America| Virgin Gorda Virgin Islands South America| West Indies| Puerto Rico South America| Vieques Puerto Rico South America|