"Solanum auriculatum" redirects here. This name and Solanum mauritianum itself have variously been applied to other plants; see below.

Solanum mauritianum is a small tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

 or shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

 native to South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

, including Northern Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, Southern Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, Paraguay

Paraguay

Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...

 and Uruguay

Uruguay

Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...

. It has become a widespread invasive weed

Weed

A weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-controlled settings, especially farm fields and gardens, but also lawns, parks, woods, and other areas. More specifically, the term is often used to...

 in Cook Islands

Cook Islands

The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...

, Fiji

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

, Hawai‘i, New Caledonia

New Caledonia

New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...

, Norfolk Island

Norfolk Island

Norfolk Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance...

, Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...

, Tonga

Tonga

Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...

, Réunion Island, Mauritius

Mauritius

Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...

, Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 and several southern Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

n countries. Its common names include Woolly Nightshade, Ear-leaved Nightshade (or "earleaf nightshade"), Flannel Weed, Bugweed, Tobacco Weed, Tobacco Bush, Wild Tobacco and Kerosene Plant.

The plant has a life of up to thirty years, and can grow up to 10 m (32.8 ft) tall. Its large oval leaves are grey-green in color and covered with felt-like hairs. The flower is purple with a yellow center. The plant can flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...

 year round but fruiting occurs in late spring to early summer. It is tolerant of many soil

Soil

Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...

 types and quickly becomes established around plantation

Plantation

A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...

s, forest margins, scrub and open land.

S. mauritianum is a favoured food plant of the African Olive Pigeon (Columba arquatrix). It is poisonous for many other organisms, including humans.

As invasive species

Woolly nightshade has naturalized

Introduced species

An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...

 in New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. It arrived there by 1880, and is now well established from Taupo

Taupo

Taupo is a town on the shore of Lake Taupo in the centre of the North Island of New Zealand. It is the seat of the Taupo District Council and lies in the southern Waikato Region....

 northward. Woolly Nightshade is poisonous and handling the plants can cause irritation and nausea

Nausea

Nausea , is a sensation of unease and discomfort in the upper stomach with an involuntary urge to vomit. It often, but not always, precedes vomiting...

. The dust from the plant can cause respiratory problems if exposure is prolonged. Because of its ability to affect human health and because of its aggressive and fast growing character it is illegal in some areas of New Zealand to sell, propagate, or distribute any part of the plant.

This plant has also become naturalized

Naturalisation (biology)

In biology, naturalisation is any process by which a non-native organism spreads into the wild and its reproduction is sufficient to maintain its population. Such populations are said to be naturalised....

 in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, particularly on the east coast. In Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 this plant is known colloquially as "wild tobacco", although Australia possesses many species of Nicotiana

Nicotiana

Nicotiana is a genus of herbs and shrubs of the nightshade family indigenous to North and South America, Australia, south west Africa and the South Pacific. Various Nicotiana species, commonly referred to as tobacco plants, are cultivated and grown to produce tobacco. Of all Nicotiana species,...

 which are more correctly known as wild tobaccos.

In South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, biological control is being used to control Solanum mauritianum.

Toxicity

All parts of the Solanum mauritianum plant are poison

Poison

In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....

ous to humans, especially the berries. Human fatalities have resulted from the consumption of the berries. The main toxic compound is the glycoalkaloid

Glycoalkaloid

Glycoalkaloids are a family of poisons commonly found in the plant species Solanum dulcamara . There are several glycoalkaloids that are potentially toxic. A prototypical glycoalkaloid is called solanine , which is found in potato...

, solasodine

Solasodine

Solasodine is a poisonous glycoalkaloid chemical compound that occurs in plants of the Solanaceae family.It is commercially used as a precursor for the production of complex steroidal compounds such as contraceptive pills....

, with the highest content in the unripe green berry

Berry

The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. Grapes are an example. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. They may have one or more carpels with a thin covering and fleshy interiors....

 (2% - 3.5% dry weight). Solauricine

Solauricine

Solauricine is a poisonous glycoalkaloid chemical compound that occurs in plants of the Solanaceae family....

, solauricidine

Solauricidine

Solauricidine is the poisonous aglycone chemical compound of the glycoalkaloid solauricine. It closely resembles an isomer of solasonine. Solauricidine occurs in plants of the Solanaceae family....

, and solasodamine

Solasodamine

Solasodamine is a poisonous tetrasaccharide chemical compound of solasodine that occurs in plants of the Solanaceae family....

 have also been found in Solanum mauritianum.

Synonyms

The name Solanum mauritianum was applied by Blanco

Francisco Manuel Blanco

Francisco Manuel Blanco was a Spanish friar and botanist.-Biography:He was a member of the Augustinian order. His first assignment was in Angat in the province of Bulacan in the Philippines. He subsequently had a variety different assignments...

 to S. erianthum

Solanum erianthum

Solanum erianthum is a species of nightshade that is native to southern North America and northern South America. It has been introduced to other parts of the world and has a nearly pantropical distribution. Common names include Potato Tree, Mullein Nightshade , Velvet Nightshade, and...

 and by Willdenow

Carl Ludwig Willdenow

Carl Ludwig Willdenow was a German botanist, pharmacist, and plant taxonomist. He is considered one of the founders of phytogeography, the study of the geographic distribution of plants...

 based on Roth

Albrecht Wilhelm Roth

Albrecht Wilhelm Roth was a physician and botanist who was a native of Dötlingen, Germany.He studied medicine at the Universities of Halle and Erlangen, where he received his doctorate in 1778....

 to S. sisymbriifolium

Solanum sisymbriifolium

Solanum sisymbriifolium is commonly known as Sticky Nightshade, the Fire-and-Ice plant, Litchi Tomato, or Morelle de Balbis.The small edible fruits are red on the outside and yellow inside. It grows inside a husk which burst open when the fruit ripens...

.

In addition, the Wooly Nightshade has a number of synonyms:

• Solanum auriculatum Aiton

S. auriculatum Mart. ex Dunal in DC. is S. granuloso-leprosum.

• Solanum carterianum Rock
• Solanum pulverulentum Salisb. (non L.: preoccupied)

S. pulverulentum Nutt. ex Seem. is S. puberulum. Solanum pulverulentum Pers. is S. cutervanum.

• Solanum tabaccifolium Vell.
• Solanum verbascifolium var. typicum Hassl.
• Solanum verbascifolium var. auriculatum (Aiton) Kuntze
• Solanum verbascifolium var. auriculatum Maiden (non Aiton: preoccupied)

S. verbascifolium L. is S. donianum; S. verbascifolium Banks ex Dunal in DC. is the same as the undeterminable S. stenorchis. Many other Solanum species (S. conglobatum, S. erianthum

Solanum erianthum

Solanum erianthum is a species of nightshade that is native to southern North America and northern South America. It has been introduced to other parts of the world and has a nearly pantropical distribution. Common names include Potato Tree, Mullein Nightshade , Velvet Nightshade, and...

, S. granuloso-leprosum, S. hazenii, S. riparium, and S. stipulaceum Roem. & Schult.) were once considered varieties of the ill-defined "S. verbascifolium" too.