毛果茄 mao guo qie

Solanum mairei H. Léveillé; S. surattense N. L. Burman; S. xanthocarpum Schrader & Wendland.

Herbs erect or creeping, sometimes woody at base, 50-70 cm tall, copiously armed with sturdy, needlelike, broad-based prickles 0.5-2 cm × 0.5-1.5 mm, pubescent with 7-9-rayed stellate hairs, overall glabrescent. Leaves unequal paired; petiole 2-3.5 cm, prickly, with sessile stellate hairs; leaf blade ovate-oblong, 4-9 × 2-4.5 cm, pubescent and prickly along veins, glabrescent, base subcordate or unequal, margin usually 5-9-lobed or pinnately parted, lobes unequal, sinuate, apex acute. Inflorescences elongate racemes 4-7 cm; peduncle unbranched, copiously armed. Pedicel ca. 1 cm. Calyx campanulate, ca. 1 cm in diam.; lobes oblong, pubescent, prickly. Corolla blue-purple, rotate, 1.4-1.6 × 2.5 cm; lobes ovate-deltate, 6-8 mm, densely pubescent with stellate hairs. Filaments ca. 1 mm; anthers ca. 8 mm. Style ca. 1 cm. Fruiting pedicel 2-3.6 cm, with prickles and sparse stellate hairs. Fruiting calyx prickly, sparsely pubescent. Berry pale yellow, 1.3-2.2 cm in diam. Seeds subreniform, ca. 1.5 mm in diam. Fl. Nov-May, fr. Jun-Sep.

Sandy river beaches; 100-1300 m. Hainan, Hubei, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan [Afghanistan, India, S Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; Africa, SW Asia, Pacific Islands]

Solasodine can be extracted from the fruits, a source of raw material for hormone synthesis.