SOLANUM VILLOSUM (SOLANACEAE): A NEW DISTRIBUTIONAL RECORD TO
TELANGANA, INDIA
L. Paramesh*, G. Ravi, P. Bharath Simha, Ramesh Kandagatla, Y.V.B. Charan, V. Sunitha and
V. Vasudeva Rao
All India Network Project on Vertebrate Pest Management, PJTSAU, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad ‒ 500 030, Telangana, India
*Email: parameshbotany@gmail.com
Introduction
The potato family, Solanaceae, is one of the most
utilized plant groups by humans, contributing some of
the world’s very important food plants such as the
potato, tomato, brinjal, chilli peppers and ground
cherries. Amongst them, Solanum L. is one of the largest
flowering plant genera with about 1500 species found on
all continents except Antarctica (Vorontsova et al., 2013).
In India, the genus is represented by 49 species (Kalidas
& Panda, 2019), and 17 species were reported from
Telangana state (Pullaiah, 2015). There is much
confusion about Solanum nigrum complex triangle that
includes S. americanum L. and S. villosum Mill. in the
Indian subcontinent. Schilling & Anderson (1990), on the
basis of chromosome number and morphological
characters, recognized three distinct species, viz. (i) S.
americanum Mill. (2n = 2x = 24, diploid; inflorescence
umbellate, fruits shiny purple-black with reflexed
sepals); (ii) S. nigrum L. (2n = 6x = 72, hexaploid,
autoallopolyploid; inflorescence racemiform, fruits dull
purple-black with sepals adhering to the fruits; and (iii)
S. villosum Mill. (2n = 4x = 48; autotetraploid; fruits very
distinctive orange to orange-brown to reddish-orange
with reflexed sepals). More often this complex was
largely known for long time as S. nigram (kamanchi;
black nightshade); then of late as S. americanum, and
much less as S. villosum though all these were found
throughout India, with some intergrading forms. The
extent of confusion about this complex is such that
Kalidass & Panda (2018:19), in their account of Solanum
in Eastern Ghats, synonymised the entire Solanum
nigram complex (13 names) under S. americanum L.
though they maintained the above three morelloid
nightshade species as distinct (p.18).
While working on the documentation of
biodiversity at proposed Urban Conservation Blocks
(UCBs) in Telangana, the flowering and fruiting
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specimens of Solanum nigram complex were collected
along the road sideway in Khagajghat village
(17°7'48.68"N, 78°41'13.97"E), Ranga Reddy district,
Telangana state, in Nov. 2020. After a critical study, the
specimens were identified as Solanum villosum Mill.
based on the current literature (Särkinen et al., 2018;
Momang et al. 2019; Kumar et al., 2020). The scrutiny of
literature revealed that the species has not been listed in
the flora of Telangana (Pullaiah, 2015; Reddy & Reddy,
2016). Hence, it is recorded here with description and
plant pictures for further recording of this naturalizing
weed.
Taxonomic treatment
Solanum villosum Mill., Gard. Dict. (ed. 8), art Solanum
no. 2. 1768; Abedin et al. in Pakistan J. Botany 23:
271. 1991; Kumar et al. in Indian Forester 139(11):
1052. 2013; Murugan et al. in Indian J. Forestry
40(1): 73.2017; Särkinen et al., Phytokeys 106: 176.
2018. Solanum nigrum L. var. villosum L., Sp. Pl. 186.
1753. Solanum luteum Mill., Gard. Dict. ed.8, no. 3.
1768. Solanum rubrum Mill., Gard. Dict. ed.8, no. 4.
1768. Solanum purpureilineatum Sabnis & Bhatt,
Bull. Bot. Surv. India 12(1–4): 258. 1972 [1970].
Annual, erect, much branched herb, 50–60 cm tall.
Stems pubescent, terete, often angular, light green, Leaves
simple, alternate, exstipulate; petioles 5–15 mm; lamina
4–7.5 × 1.5–4.5 cm, ovate–elliptic, nearly entire to
moderately sinuate, acute, base unequal, cuneate,
narrowly continued into the petiole, sparsely pubescent.
Racemes supra-axillary, sub umbellate with 4–9 flowers;
peduncles straight from stem, up to 15 mm long,
unbranched; pedicels 4–10 mm, gradually thickened
upwards, hispid. Flowers pentamerous, perfect. Calyx
2.5–3 × 1–1.5 mm, puberulent; lobes 5, broadly subulate,
entire, slightly enlarged in fruit, strongly reflexed,
sinuses rounded. Corolla white, 5–7 × 8–12 mm, lobes
© Scientific Publishers (India)
L. Paramesh et al.

ovate-lanceolate, c. 3 mm, with a purple midrib, ciliate, base, stigma capitate. Berries globose to ellipsoid, 5–8
spreading, reflexed. Stamens 5, equal, filaments 1 mm, mm in diam., brightly orange to reddish-orange when
pubescent, anthers yellow, c. 2 mm, dehiscence by apical ripe. Seeds discoid, compressed, c. 1 mm in diam.,
pores. Ovary globose, glabrous, style 2–3 mm, pilose at brownish yellow (Plate 1).

Plate 1. Solanum villosum. A. Habit; B. Twig; C. Inflorescence; D, E. Flower facial and back views; F, G. Unripe and
ripe berries; H. Seeds.

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Illustration: Särkinen et al., Phytokeys 106:
186.f.57.2018.
Distribution: (i) GLOBAL: Throughout the tropical
and temperate regions of the world North America,
Europe, Africa, Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Bangladesh and
China; and (ii) INDIA: Andhra Pradesh (V.S. Raju, pers.
comm.), Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Delhi, Haryana,
Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan,Tamil
Nadu, Telangana (present study), Uttar Pradesh and
West Bengal.
Flowering and Fruiting: November–May.
Specimen examined: India, Telangana state, Ranga
Reddy district, Manchal mandal, Khagajghat village,
10.12.2020, L. Paramesh 238. The specimen was
preserved in the herbarium of All-India Network Project
on Vertebrate Pest Management (HAINPVPM) of Prof.
Jayashankar Telangana state, Agricultural University,
Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, India.
Ecology: Solanum villosum (red-fruit nightshade)
was found growing along the roadsides, near rocks, etc.
(elevation 497 m a.m.s.l.) in disturbed sites in association
with Solanum erianthum D.Don, Dicliptera paniculata
(Forssk.) I. Darbysh., Solanum nigrum L., Malvastrum
coromandelianum (L.) Garcke, Dactyloctenium aegyptium
(L.) Willd. and Setaria verticillata (L.) P. Beauv.
Note: The Morelloid clade, within Solanum L. is also
known as the black nightshades or “Maurella”. It is one of
the 10 major pantropical clades with 75 currently
recognised non-spiny, herbaceous and suffrutescent
species with simple or branched hairs with or without
glandular tips, and centre of distribution being the
tropical Andes (Särkinen et al., 2018). The African
nightshade, S. villosum, native to the northern
Hemisphere, is widely used and cultivated as a leafy
vegetable for its high nutritional value (Ojiewo et al.,
2006). At times, it is mixed with spinach to help cardiac
patients (Zahara et al., 2019). In India, it is used
traditionally in various indigenous systems of medicine
for the treatment of leucorrhoea, stomach-ache,
tonsillitis and wounds, as elsewhere on par with black-
berried Solanum nigrum. Berries are edible, eaten by
birds and humans.
Received: 15.10.2020 Revised: 20.02.2021
© Scientific Publishers (India)
Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany (Vol. 44)
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to PJTSAU, Hyderabad and
ICAR, New Delhi (AINPVPM, Rajendranagar, India) for
facilities and the Telangana State Forest Department,
Hyderabad, for financial support (Proc. No.10877/
Res.IV/2019 dated 27.12.2019), and Professor Dr
Vatsavaya S. Raju, Warangal, for his academic advice and
support.
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Accepted: 28.02.2021
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