Plant ID??

[drugo]

Can anyone identify this plant I bumped into on the streets of Westend in Brissy. I've got a feeling that it's salvia d. ???

[drugo]

The seeded 'berries' are throwing me off a little, as are the little White flowers? The stems are square in their total length with slight barbed fillaments running along the edge of each square section

[Bush Turkey]

chilli? not a Salvia of any kind

Edited September 14, 2011 by Bush Turkey

[Scientician]

I think you have Black nightshade there buddy.

[vual]

99.9% Solanum nigrum / Solanum americanum (Glossy Nightshade / Common nightshade / Black nightshade / blackberry nightshade...)

Only because i know the species of it here in Brisbane look different then normal (the leaves are much smoother and normally shaped).

Black nightshade's leafs normally are kinda spiky but im 99.9% thats what u have, Black Nightshade.

now if i told you the fruits are edible when very purple you probably wont believe me.....

Many people are scared from this plant cause obviously it looks like atropa belladonna, expessaily in Brisbane where the leafs seem to be less spiky and more shinny.

I have made a fantastic jam from the RIPE fruits. (*RIPE FRUITS ONLY*).

Noxious WEED here in QLD! But i love it cause you can eat it, much liuke Tomato, Solanaceae family, same shit...

If you eat a green tommato you get the same toxins.

Lol salvia >< you wish......

now way its salvia

salvia stem is more hollow, more light green.

More info:

Common name Blackberry nightshade

Botanical name Solanum nigrum and Solanum americanum

Other common names Common nightshade, glossy nightshade

Family Solanaceae

General description An annual or perennial soft wooded herb to about 60cm often found growing as a weed in gardens or waste areas.

Flowers The flowers are small, star-shaped, white, clustered together in groups of 4 to 8, measuring 0.8 to 1.2cm in diameter.

Leaves The leaves are alternate, with an undulate or entire margin, and measure up to 13cm long and up to 7cm wide.

Fruit/Berries The fruit are globular, about 6 to 8mm in diameter, green ripening to a dull or shiny black or dark purple. The ripe fruit are soft and contain numerous small seeds.

Other -

Symptoms The entire plant is considered toxic however ripe berries are usually harmless. Eating green berries may cause headache, nausea and mild stomach upset.

Toxicity category 2

Warning Seek medical attention if symptoms occur or more than 3 unripe (green) berries are eaten.

http://www.health.qld.gov.au/poisonsinformationcentre/plants_fungi/blackberrynightshade.asp

I can conferm purble berrys are eddible from brisbane area.

The plant has a long history of medicinal usage, dating back to ancient Greece. This plant is also known as Peddakasha pandla koora in Telangana region. This plant's leaves are used to treat mouth ulcers that happen during winter periods of Tamil Nadu, India. Chinese experiments confirm that the plant inhibits growth of cervical carcinoma (Fitoterapia, 79, 2008, № 7-8, 548-556).

Black nightshade flowers

S. nigrum is a widely used plant in oriental medicine. It is is antitumorigenic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory,hepatoprotective,diuretic, and antipyretic.

In India, the berries are casually grown and eaten; but not cultivated for commercial use. The berries are referred to as "fragrant tomato," or மணத்தக்காளி - manathakkaali in Tamil, 'ganike gida' in Kannada, Kamanchi in Sanskrit and Telugu, and makoi in Hindi. Although not very popular across much of its growing region, the fruit and dish are common in Northern Tamil Nadu, Southern Andhra and Southern Karnataka. In North India, the boiled extracts of leaves and berries are also used to alleviate the patient's discomfort in liver-related ailments, including jaundice.

In Ethiopia, the ripe berries are picked and eaten by children in normal times, while during famines all affected people would eat berries. In addition the leaves are collected by women and children, who cook the leaves in salty water and consumed like any other vegetable. Farmers in the Konso Special Woreda report that because S. nigrum matures before the maize is ready for harvesting, it is used as a food source until their crops are ready.[2] The Welayta people in the nearby Wolayita Zone do not weed out S. nigrum that appear in their gardens since they likewise cook and eat the leaves.[3]

In South Africa, the very ripe and hand-selected fruit (nastergal in Afrikaans and umsobo in Zulu) is cooked into a beautiful but quite runny purple jam[4].

In Greece the leaves are one of the ingredients included in the salad of boiled greens known as horta.

In Indonesia, the young fruit is eaten raw as part of a traditional salad 'lalapan' or cooked with oncom and chillies.

-wikipedia

So lets clean up Brisbane one jam jar at a time???

Use's for s. Nigrum

Edited September 14, 2011 by vual

[fydesvindico]

I second Vaul on that one.

[drugo]

Dang...

Thanks for your help!! ;)