Solanum umbelliferum var. xanti

Purple nightshade

Family: Solanaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Purple nightshade is a California native perennial found in the California Floristic Province (excluding the Cascade Range and Central Valley) and northern desert mountains in brushy areas and woodland openings at elevations up to 3,000 meters. Flowering from February to June, this plant produces medium to deep violet flowers approximately 15 to 30 millimeters in diameter. Growing as a subshrub up to 1.5 meters tall with weak to stiff, spreading or erect stems that are often much branched, it develops a complex growth habit. Its leaves range from 2 to 10 centimeters long, broadly ovate to lanceolate, with margins that can be flat or slightly crinkled and occasionally featuring small side lobes near the base. The fruit develops as a green structure 6 to 13 millimeters in diameter, with herbage that is light to dark green and generally densely covered in a mix of long spreading hairs and shorter glandular hairs.

Habitat: Brushy areas, openings in woodlands

Bloom period: Feb-Jun

Elevation: <= 3000 m

Bioregions: CA-FP (exc CaR, GV), n DMtns

California counties: Humboldt, San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Kern, Ventura, Lassen, Tulare, Riverside, San Luis Obispo, Inyo, Yolo, Santa Barbara, Fresno, El Dorado, Madera, Solano, Tuolumne, Mendocino, Sacramento, Amador, Butte, Placer, Contra Costa, Mariposa, Sonoma, Alameda, Marin, Mono, Lake, Nevada, Plumas, Napa, Stanislaus, Calaveras, Monterey, Santa Cruz

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