Solanum capsicoides (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Solanum capsicoides All.

Protologue: Auct. synop. meth. stirp. hort. reg. Taurensis: 12 (1773).

Synonyms

• Solanum ciliatum Lamk (1794),
• Solanum ciliare Willd. (1809),
• Solanum aculeatissimum auct. non Jacq.

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: terong kori, terong tenang (Sundanese)
• Malaysia: terong asam hutan, terong perat, terong puyoh (Peninsular)
• Thailand: khuea hin (peninsular), ma khuea kham (northern), ma khuea khuen (Chiang Mai).

Distribution

Originally from coastal Brazil, but now commonly naturalized in western Africa, the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, Florida, Hawaii, the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, China, India, Sri Lanka and in South-East Asia in Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and Java; to be expected elsewhere.

Uses

The fruits, charred and pounded in oil, are used to treat skin complaints. In Peninsular Malaysia, the pounded roots have been applied to the gums against toothache. The smoke of dried, pounded and burned seeds has been inhaled to cure an ulcerated nose. The fruits are edible when roasted or cooked in curry. S. capsicoides is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental for its decorative fruits.

Observations

• A perennial, slightly woody, prickly herb up to 100 cm tall, stem and leaves glabrous or sparsely pilose with simple hairs.
• Leaves broadly ovate to ovate-cordate, pinnately 5-7-lobed, 4.5-18 cm × 4-12 cm, cordate at base, apex acute.
• Inflorescence extra-axillary, racemose, 1-7-flowered, on a short peduncle.
• Calyx campanulate, 4-5 mm long, shortly glandular hairy, corolla rotate, about 3 cm in diameter, white, lobes lanceolate, anthers narrowed towards the apex, about 6 mm long, with apical pores.
• Fruit solitary or sometimes 2-3 together, globose to depressed globose, 2.5-3 cm in diameter, glabrous, orange-red when mature, calyx slightly enlarged.
• Seeds strongly flattened, winged all around, 4-6 mm in diameter.

S. capsicoides is a common weed of slightly shaded places, along hedges, sugar-cane fields and roadsides up to 1500 m altitude.

Selected sources

• [97] Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1963) 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 pp.
• [202] Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. Revised reprint. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A-H) pp. 1-1240. Vol. 2 (I-Z) pp. 1241-2444.
• [287] Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1948-1976. The wealth of India: a dictionary of Indian raw materials & industrial products. 11 volumes. Publications and Information Directorate, New Delhi, India.
• [320] Daunay, M.-C., Lester, R.N. & Laterrot, H., 1991. The use of wild species for the genetic improvement of brinjal egg-plant (Solanum melongena) and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). In: Hawkes, J.G., Lester, R.N., Nee, M. & Estrada, N. (Editors): Solanaceae III: Taxonomy, chemistry, evolution. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond & The Linnean Society of London, London, United Kingdom. pp. 389-412.
• [580] Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 1660 + CCXLI pp.
• [873] Liu, Y.-C. & Ou, C.-H., 1978. Solanaceae. In: Li, H.-L., Liu, T.-C., Huang, T.-C., Koyama, T. & DeVol, C.E. (Editors): Flora of Taiwan. Vol. 4. Epoch Publishing Co., Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China. pp. 530-550.
• [1016] Nee, M., 1979. Patterns in biogeography in Solanum, section Acanthophora. In: Hawkes, J.G., Lester, R.N. & Skelding, A.D. (Editors): The biology and taxonomy of the Solanaceae. Linnean Society Symposium Series 7. Academic Press, London, United Kingdom. p. 569-580.
• [1017] Nee, M., 1991. Synopsis of Solanum section Acanthophora: a group of interest for glycoalkaloids. In: Hawkes, J.G., Lester, R.N., Nee, M. & Estrada, N. (Editors): Solanaceae III: Taxonomy, chemistry, evolution. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew & the Linnean Society of London, London, United Kingdom. pp. 257-266.
• [1380] Smitinand, T., 1980. Thai plant names. Royal Forest Department, Bangkok, Thailand. 379 pp.
• [1652] Zhang, Z.-Y., & Lu, A.-M. & D'Arcy, W., 1994. Solanaceae. In: Wu, Z.-Y. & Raven, P.H. (Editors): Flora of China 17. Science Press, Beijing, China & Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, United States. pp. 300-332.

Main genus page

• Solanum (Medicinal plants)

Authors

• M.M. Blomqvist & Nguyen Tien Ban