Eastern nightshade, morelle noire de l’Est

Solanum nigrum Linnaeus var. virginicum Linnaeus

Herbs or shrubs, annual or perennial, erect, unarmed, to 1 m, glabrous to sparsely or rarely densely pubescent, hairs unbranched, to 1 mm, eglan­dular. Leaves petiolate; petiole 1–5 cm; blade simple, ovate to elliptic, 4.5–10.5 × 2–6 cm, margins entire to sinuate-dentate, base attenuate to rounded. Inflo­rescences extra-axillary, unbranched, umbel-like, (2–)3–6-flowered, 1–2.5 cm. Pedicels straight and spreading in flower and recurved to reflexed in fruit, 0.5–1 cm. Flowers radially symmetric; calyx not accrescent, unarmed, 2–3 mm, glabrous to sparsely pubescent, lobes appressed in fruit, deltate; corolla white, sometimes with yellow central star, rarely purplish, stellate, 0.5–1 cm diam., without interpetalar tissue; stamens equal; anthers ellipsoidal, 1–1.5 mm, dehiscent by terminal pores that open into longitudinal slits; ovary glabrous. Berries dull or slightly shiny purplish black, globose, 0.5–1 cm diam., glabrous, with 6–9 sclerotic granules per fruit. Seeds yellowish, flattened, 1.5–2 × 1–1.5 mm, finely reticulate. 2n = 24.

Flowering May–Oct. Moist, open woodlands, stream banks, fields, roadsides, disturbed areas; 0–700(–1700) m; B.C., Man., N.B., Ont., Que., Sask.; Ala., Ariz., Ark., Colo., Conn., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., Nebr., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., N.Dak., Ohio, Okla., Pa., R.I., S.C., S.Dak., Tenn., Tex., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.

Solanum emulans has often been called S. ptychanthum Dunal (with the variant spelling ptycanthum), but that name is a synonym of S. americanum.

Solanum emulans is the most common species in the black nightshade group in northeastern North America. It can be distinguished from other North American species in the black nightshade group by its unbranched inflorescences, short anthers, appressed fruiting calyx lobes, and numerous sclerotic granules in the fruits.