Earleaf Nightshade

Overview

This plant originates from the West Indies, Central America and Mexico, but is now a widespread weed in the tropics, although hardly penetrating South America. It was probably introduced from the Caribbean into West Africa at the time of the slave trade and it is believed to have been introduced into the Philippines by the Spanish in the 16th century, from where it has spread throughout the South-East Asian archipelago and to mainland Asia and Australia as a weed.

Vernacular Names

Amourette marron (French), Jia yan ye shu (Chinese), Daung-satpya (Myanmar), Malatalong (Tagalog-Philippines), Kondogbo (Afrikaan).

Agroecology

Solanum donianum occurs in sunny localities, in brushwood and roadsides, on waste ground and in edges of fields and forests. It is also a weed of gardens and fields at low to medium altitudes and prefers a well-drained soil.

Morphology

• Roots - fibrous or tuber-bearing roots.
• Leaves - leaf blades 6-20 x 4-12 cm, ovate to nearly lanceolate, chartaceous, stellate-tomentulose, especially beneath, the apex acute, obtuse, or seldom rounded, the base obtuse to rounded.
• Flowers - in terminal (appearing as axillary) bifid cymes; pedicels stout, 3-5, 4-6 mm long, stellate-tomentulose.
• Fruit - a globose berry 8–12 mm in diameter, short-hairy, dull yellow to orange when ripe, many-seeded.
• Seeds - ovoid, compressed, 1–2 mm in diameter.

Cultivation

• It is easily raised from seed and can also be propagated from shoot cuttings and by division of rooted shoots.

Chemical Constituents

• Plant and fruit contains solanine, mallic acid, a coloring matter, and saponin. Yields steroidal saponins, free genins, steroidal alkaloids of the spirosolane group, such as solasodine and tomatidine.
• Three solvent extracts of bark yielded 21 phytocompounds: ethyl acetate extract—acetamide, acetohydroxamic acid, pyridine, 5- tetradecene,(E)-diethyl phthalate, 1-nonadecene, 1-dodecanol, bicyclo3.1.1heptanes, 2, 6, 6-trimethyl-, pentadecanoic acid, trichloroacetic acid, 9, 12, 15-octadecatrienoic acid, methyl ester, phytol, octadecanoic acid, methyl ester; methanol and acetone extracts—formic acid, 1 methylethyl ester, trimethylhydroxysilane, 1-naphthoic acid, 1- piperazineethanamine, hexadecanoic acid, 2- pentanonemethyl ester, and gamma-sitosterol.

Traditional Medicinal Uses

• The leaves are considered abortifacient and diuretic.
• The root bark can be used as an antiphlogistic and against arthritis.
• A decoction of the leaves is drunk as a treatment against vertigo.
• The pounded leaves are used as a poultice to treat piles, haemorrhoids and scrofula. Heated leaves are applied as a cream to the forehead as a treatment against headache.The leaf juice is used as a rinse for sores in the mouth.
• A decoction from the roots is applied to treat violent pains all over the body or to relieve digestive troubles; it is also given to treat dysentery, diarrhoea and fever.