刺天茄 ci tian qie

Solanum chinense Dunal; S. indicum Linnaeus var. recurvatum C. Y. Wu & S. C. Huang; S. nivalomontanum C. Y. Wu & S. C. Huang.

Shrubs 0.5-1.5(-2) m tall, much branched, pubescent overall with dense, stalked, 5-11-rayed stellate hairs. Stems and branches with pale yellow, recurved prickles 4-10 × 1.5-7 mm, gray stellate tomentose. Leaves unequal paired; petiole 1.5-4 cm; leaf blade ovate, 5-8(-11) × 2-7(-8.5) cm, tomentose with short-stalked, 5-9(-11)-rayed stellate hairs adaxially, with long-stalked hairs abaxially, with straight needlelike prickles, base cordate or truncate, margin 5-7-sinuate lobed, apex obtuse or acute. Inflorescences extra-axillary, scorpioid racemes, 2-6 cm, sparingly branched; peduncle ca. 1.5 cm, prickly or not. Pedicel 4-15 mm. Calyx 4-7 mm; lobes lanceolate, 3-5 mm, unequal, pubescent and prickly as on pedicel. Corolla blue-purple, sometimes white, rotate, 1-1.2 × 1-2 cm; lobes ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 5-8 × 2-5 mm, obtuse. Filaments ca. 1 mm; anthers oblong, 5-6 mm. Style 8-10 mm, stellate pubescent. Fruiting pedicel 1-2 cm, stellate pubescent, prickly, erect or sometimes recurved. Fruiting calyx reflexed, stellate pubescent, prickly. Berry shiny orange, globose, 0.8-1.3 cm in diam. Seeds sub-discoid, ca. 2 mm in diam. Fl. and fr. throughout the year.

Forests, dry thickets, wastelands, roadsides; 100-2700 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan [widespread in tropical Asia]

Fruits are used medicinally for relieving cough, alleviating toothache, and externally for skin disease.