Jerusalem- or winter-cherry

Solanum capsicastrum Link ex Schauer

Shrubs, erect, unarmed, to 1 m, glabrous to densely pubescent, hairs dendritically branched. Leaves petiolate; petiole 0.2–1 cm; blade simple, elliptic, 1–9 × 0.5–4.5 cm, margins entire, base acute to attenuate. Inflores­cences leaf-opposed, unbranched, 1–8-flowered, 0.2–1 cm. Pedicels 0.3–0.7 cm in flower, 0.8–1 cm and erect in fruit. Flowers radially symmetric; calyx somewhat accrescent, unarmed, 2.5–6 mm, glabrous to densely pubescent with dendritic hairs, lobes long-triangular; corolla white, stellate, 1–1.5(–2.5) cm diam., without interpetalar tissue; stamens equal; anthers oblong, 3–4 mm, dehiscent by terminal pores that open into longitu­dinal slits; ovary glabrous. Berries yellow to orange or red, globose, 1–2 cm diam., glabrous, without sclerotic granules. Seeds yellowish, flattened with thickened margins, 3–4 × 2.5–3 mm, minutely pitted. 2n = 24.

Flowering May–Sep. Disturbed sites; 0–1000 m; introduced; Fla., Tex.; Mexico; Central America; South America; often escaped in tropical and subtropical countries worldwide.

Solanum pseudocapsicum is native from Mexico to Argentina, southern Brazil, and Uruguay. It is grown as an ornamental for its showy fruits, especially around Christmas. It occasionally escapes from cultivation in southern Florida and Texas. In Texas, it has become established and fairly common in Austin, in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, and in Goliad and Caldwell counties. Cultivated forms are usually glabrous, but some can have branched pubescence. The fruits are mildly poisonous when ingested by humans but can be highly toxic to dogs and some birds.

Solanum pseudocapsicum, along with S. diphyllum, has a distinctive leaf arrangement in which a longer, narrower leaf is paired with a shorter, often more rounded one.