Solanum serpens A.R.Bean APNI* Description: Prostrate, stoloniferous shrub to 0.3 m high, densely stellate-hairy; prickles present on branchlets, leaves, petioles and sometimes on pedicels; absent from the calyx.
Leaves broad-ovate to elliptical, 5.5–10 cm long, 2.6–4 cm wide, margins entire; upper surface green and almost glabrous (stellate hairs confined to veins); lower surface white to rusty or greenish, densely to very densely stellate-tomentose; petiole 6–15 cm long.
Inflorescences 1–4-flowered (some flowers functionally male); peduncle short; pedicels 11–28 mm long. Calyx at anthesis 5.5–9.5 mm long; lobes attenuate, 4–7 mm long. Corolla stellate, 20–25 mm diam., purple.
Berry globular, 14–16 mm diam., yellow-green; fruiting pedicels 20–32 mm long. Seeds pale yellow.
Flowering: October to April.
Distribution and occurrence: Distributed from Mt Tambourine, Qld, to Byron Bay, but most populations known from the McPherson Range. Uncommon. Grows in complex notophyll rainforest, sometimes with Hoop Pine, usually on loam or clay-loam soils.
NSW subdivisions: NC
Other Australian states: Qld
Text by Peter G. Wilson
Taxon concept: Bean, Austrobaileya 6: 248-250 (2002).
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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