Solanum muricatum (PROSEA)

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Plant Resources of South-East Asia
Introduction
List of species


Solanum muricatum Aiton

Family: Solanaceae

Synonyms

  • Solanum variegatum Ruiz & Pavón,
  • S. guatemalense Hort.

Vernacular names

  • Pepino, melon pear (En)
  • Malaysia: melon pear.

Distribution

Native to the Andean Highlands of South America where it is a very ancient crop plant. It does not occur in a wild state. Nowadays it is also becoming popular in other parts of the world, e.g. the United States, New Zealand, the Mediterranean and Malaysia (Cameron Highlands).

Uses

Fruits of pepino can be eaten as a cooked vegetable but also raw as a dessert fruit or in sweet dishes. It has a mild sweet flavour and is juicy; usually it is peeled before consumption.

Observations

  • Perennial herb, often cultivated as an annual, about 1 m tall.
  • Leaves very variable, from simple to compound with 3-7 leaflets; simple leaf and leaflets broadly lanceolate to nearly ovate, small to large.
  • Flowers violet to blue.
  • Fruit a berry, ovoid, 6-14 cm × 5-8 cm, light green to creamy white or blue, often striped purple.

Pepino is propagated by cuttings. It can be cultivated in the cooler parts of the tropics (highlands). The soil should not be too fertile. The plants are not very drought resistant. Much research on this species is done in New Zealand, where it has become a rather important commercial crop.

Selected sources

18, 40, 64.