Solanum laciniatum

Kangaroo-apple

Family: Solanaceae · Type: shrub · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Kangaroo-apple is a naturalized shrub found in northern California Coast and northern Central Coast regions in open, disturbed places near coastal and urban areas at elevations below 400 meters. Flowering from June to October, this plant produces blue-violet flowers with ruffled margins and notched lobe tips, approximately 30 to 50 millimeters in diameter. Growing 2 to 4 meters tall with an evergreen habit, it develops generally glabrous stems that support large, lanceolate to elliptic leaves. Its leaves can reach 10 to 40 centimeters long, often with 1 to 3 pairs of entire, lanceolate lobes along the margins. The fruit develops as a yellow to orange, nearly ovoid structure about 15 to 20 millimeters in diameter, containing numerous small seeds.

Habitat: Escaped from cultivation, invasive in open, generally disturbed places especially near coast, urban areas

Bloom period: Jun-Oct

Elevation: < 400 m

Bioregions: NCo, n CCo

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