Tall Nightshade (Solanum chenopodiodes)

Dear Readers, it’s always interesting to spot a completely new ‘weed’, and so it was today on my walk back from the wonderful Walthamstow Wetlands. Tall Nightshade (Solanum chenopodiodes) is a native of South America , like its relatives the potato, the aubergine and the sweet pepper, but it seems to have jumped across the pond and made itself at home here. According to Clive Stace and Michael Crawley’s ‘Alien Plants’, Tall Nightshade is a particular pest at Wisley, so whether it was brought in with some more exotic plant remains to be seen.

Tall Nightshade flower (Photo By Ixitixel – eigene Arbeit, selbst fotografiert, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3826231)

One look at the flowers will tell you that this is a Solanum, but it is a shrub, and the plants that I saw were several feet tall. The plant is also known as ‘Whitetip Nightshade’, presumably because of the buds, and ‘Velvety Nightshade’, because of its leaves. It’s said to be a ‘very rare casual’ plant, mostly found around London, which is an epicentre for all sorts of interesting ‘weeds’ – with such a long history, and such a varied population, it’s not surprising that our plants should also be a weed-hunter’s dream.

Tall Nightshade has a long history of medicinal use in its native South America, where it is believed to be a painkiller and antibiotic. However, like most of the family it contains toxic alkaloids, so I wouldn’t be munching it if I were you, at least not without some specialist knowledge.

It can also be used as a dye plant, and produces a purple pigment.

Interestingly, some experts say that the berries can be eaten, but they must be very ripe and almost falling off the plant. I suppose my question is, why would you want to eat them (unless you were alone and starving with only a Tall Nightshade for company). The plant has naturalised in Australia, but only survives in wet conditions. One for the Bushtucker Challenge in ‘I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here’ maybe? At least it would give the poor old invertebrates a rest.

Tall Nightshade berries (Photo by Adam Grubb and Annie Raser-Rowland at https://www.flickr.com/photos/87106229@N05/7981599873)

And now a poem. I rather like this skipping rhyme and the underlying message – don’t get mad, get even. Hah! This is from a collection called ‘Skipping Rhymes for the New Age‘ by Kate Holly-Clark, and very interesting they are too….

Skipping Rhyme from Chokely in Wynterset

“I have a deadly nightshade
So twisted does it grow-
with berries black as midnight
And a skull as white as snow
The vicar’s cocky young son
Came to drink my tea
He touched me without asking
now he’s buried ‘neath a tree”