Solanum virginianum L., Sp. Pl. 187. 1753; Hepper & Jaegger, Kew Bull. 41: 433. 1986; Dhaliwal & Sharma, Fl. Kullu Dist. 473. 1999; Kaur & Sharma, Fl. Sirmaur 458. 2004; Singh & Sharma, Fl. Chamba Dist. 499. 2006; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 17: 325; S. surratense Burm. f., Fl. Ind. 57: 1768; Collett, Fl. Siml. ed. 2: 34. 1921 (Reprint 1980); Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 10; S. xanthocarpum Schard. & Wend., Schrad. Sert. Hanov. 1: 8, t. 2. 1795; Clarke in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 4: 236. 1885; Cooke, Fl. Pres. Bomb. ed. 2: 331. 1967; S. mairei H. Lev. Repert. Spec., Nov. Regni Veg. 12: 531. 1913.

Prostrate or decumbent-ascending annual herb, sometimes suffruticose at base, 50-70 cm tall, copiously armed with sturdy needle-like broad-based prickles, up to 2 cm long and 1.5 mm in diameter, pubescent with stellate hairs when young, glabrous when mature. Leaves alternate or opposite with unequal pairs; petiole 2-4 cm long, prickly, stellate pubescent; leaf blade 4-12 cm x 2.5-6.5 cm, ovate-elliptic, oblong, elliptic-oblong, sinuate to deeply 5-9- pinnatilobed, dark green above, lobes +/- ovate, unequal, acute or obtuse, base subcordate or unequal, irregularly toothed or lobulate, pubescent and prickly along veins. Inflorescence elongated racemes, 4-7 cm long, sometimes flowers solitary; peduncle unbranched, copiously armed and stellate-pubescent. Pedicel ca. 1 cm long. Flowers 1.8-2 cm long, and ca. 2.5 cm across, actinomorphic, bisexual, 5-merous, hypogynous. Calyx campanulate, ca. 1 cm in diameter, 5-lobed, lobes oblong or ovate-lanceolate, ca. 5 mm long, acuminate, pubescent, prickly. Corolla blue-purple, rotate, 1.4-1.6 cm x ca. 2.5 cm; tube short; limb 5-lobed, lobes ovate-deltate or ovate- lanceolate, 6-8 mm, densely pubescent with stellate hairs. Stamens 5, inserted in corolla tube; anthers ca. 8 mm long, oblong, yellow, coherent in a projecting cone around style, dehiscence by apical pores; filaments shorter than anthers ca. 1 mm long; style ca. 1 cm long. Fruiting pedicels 2-3.5 cm long with prickles and sparse stellate hairs. Fruiting calyx prickly, sparsely pubescent. Berry pale yellow, 1.3-2 cm in diameter. Seeds ca. 2 mm x 1.5 mm, suborbicular, compressed, smooth, glabrous, yellowish brown.

Flowering and Fruiting: April to October
Common Names: : Thorny Nightshade, Yellow Berried Nightshade, Thai Eggplant, Surratense Nightshade, Thai green Eggplant, Thai Striped Eggplant; Kateli, Oonth Kateli (Hindi)

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