Horse nettle

Solanaceae

LIFE FORM: Perennial

NATIVITY: Southeastern United States

VEGETATIVE CHARACTERISTICS:

An erect plant that grows to 2 or 3 feet tall; spreads aggressively by rhizomes and root suckers; stems and leaves have conspicuous, sharp prickles; alternate leaves are egg-shaped with wavy edges or shallow lobes and numerous prickles.

FLOWERS:

Typical potato/tomato family flowers with 5 fused white petals and yellow anthers, less than an inch in diameter.

FRUIT/DISPERSAL AGENTS:

Yellow berries are dispersed by birds; new shoots produced by creeping rhizomes emerge up to 3 feet from the parent plant.

ECOLOGICAL PREFERENCE:

Prefers dry, gravelly soil in full sun; minimally mainained public parks and open space; vacant lots and rubble dump sites; unmowed highwya banks and median strips with frequent salt applications.

ENVIRONMENTAL FUNCTION:

Disturbance-adapted colonizer.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:

This North American native is easy to recognize because of its many sharp prickles it produces on all of its parts; the whole plant is toxic, and the seeds were once used to treat epilepsy.