Solanum americanum

American black nightshade

Family: Solanaceae · Type: annual · Native

American black nightshade is a native annual found in California Floristic Province and Mojave Desert (uncommon) in open, often disturbed places and agricultural areas at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering from April to November, this plant produces small white flowers with greenish yellow throats approximately 3 to 6 millimeters in diameter. Growing up to 1.5 meters tall with unbranched hairs that are short and mostly appressed, it develops erect or spreading stems. Its leaves are 2 to 15 centimeters long, ovate in shape, and range from entire to coarsely wavy-toothed. The fruit is a shiny black spherical berry 5 to 10 millimeters in diameter, containing 30 to 50 small seeds.

Habitat: Open, often disturbed places, agricultural weed

Bloom period: Apr-Nov

Elevation: < 1000 m

Bioregions: CA-FP, DMoj (uncommon)

California counties: San Bernardino, Ventura, Orange, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles, Inyo, Kern, San Mateo, Humboldt, Riverside, San Francisco, Solano, Alameda, Siskiyou, San Diego, Fresno, Sonoma, Tuolumne, Mendocino, Santa Barbara, Butte, Sutter, San Luis Obispo, Tulare, San Joaquin, Santa Clara, Marin, Colusa, Kings, Stanislaus, Sacramento, Madera, El Dorado, Monterey, Placer, Napa, Tehama, Contra Costa, Yuba, Lake, Amador, Merced, Yolo, Del Norte

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.