Please help identify plant w/ small black fruits

12 years ago

We inherited a yard from the previous owner of the house with an unusual patch of garden, in one corner sprang this plant. It doesn't seem to grow erect but prefer to bush out closer to the ground.The leaves look like a capsicum and it bore tiny white flowers which later formed small round fruits the size of capers. The fruits were initially green then "ripen" to black. Is this a noxious weed or some prized exotic plant? Help!

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zeedman Zone 5 Wisconsin

12 years ago

Agree with Floral_uk, it looks like one of the black nightshades, probably S. douglasii given your location. There are several very similar species, and they grow wild pretty much everywhere. I take great pains to ensure that they never go to seed in my gardens, and they still crop up from dormant seed or from bird droppings.

When I lived in San Diego, the local Hmong community cultivated one of the black nightshades extensively. There is a pretty god write up of the various species & their properties in the link below.

Personally, I would just treat it like the weed that it is & dispose of it.

Really nice jade plant bush behind it, by the way.

Here is a link that might be useful: Black nightshade

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Comments (11)

otcay
Original Author
12 years ago
A photo with the green fruits
steiconi
12 years ago
is this it? not-so-deadly nightshade. (see link)

Here is a link that might be useful: nightshade
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theforgottenone1013 (SE MI zone 5b/6a)
12 years ago
Maybe it's Solanum burbankii. Common names are wonderberry and garden huckleberry, among others.

Rodney
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
12 years ago
Not 'Deadly' Nightshade - that is Atropa belladonna. The plant at the link is Black Nightshade and the OP's photo could show that or one of the similar Solanums such as S reflexii aka S burbankii. I don't know enough about them to tell them apart.
lilyd74 (5b sw MI)
12 years ago
Does not much resemble the Solanum burbankii (wonderberry) I grew - the leaves are too long. Does look like a nightshade. There are many.
otcay
Original Author
12 years ago
Thank you for the insights
seysonn
12 years ago
They all belong to solanum/nigtshade family as do eggplants and peppers. Whether or not they are edible or deadly, is another matter that I don't know.
galinas
12 years ago
It IS the weed, and actually pretty bad one. It spreads a lot, doesn't mind shade, easily growing under large plants. And because it is from the same family as tomatoes, potato, peppers, it spreads the same diseases, they could have. That can mess with your crop "rotation". I kill it as soon as I see one.
Atharva Rathod
4 years ago

Can anyone identify this plant growing in my balcony. Is it safe or poisonous ?
Atharva Rathod
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Can anyone identify this plant growing in my balcony. Is it safe or poisonous ? It first had some black small berries but I removed and threw it out of my house for safety but again there are some raw green color berries growing as you can see in the picture