Bluewitch Nightshade

Shrubs or subshrubs, erect or somewhat spreading, to 1.5 m tall, spreading to 2 m diameter. Stems glabrous to densely pubescent with simple uniseriate trichomes to 2 mm long, these glandular or not, if shorter than 0.5 mm then sometimes antrorse, often with an enlarged cell at the base, mixed with shorter very delicate simple uniseriate trichomes with a single-celled glandular tip, and/or dendritic trichomes to 0.5 mm long, and glandular papillae with a multicellular head, usually winged from the decurrent leaf bases, in densely pubescent plants the wings not easily visible; new growth sparsely to densely pubescent with trichomes like those of the stems. Bark of older stems pale green or yellowish gray, somewhat glabrescent. Sympodial units plurifoliate. Leaves simple or shallowly pinnatifid with 1 (-3) pairs of lobes at the base, (0.5-)1–4(-9) cm long, 0.5–2(-6.5) cm wide, lanceolate to ovate or obovate, membranous or somewhat thick and leathery, both surfaces glabrous to densely pubescent with a mixture of trichome types, these simple uniseriate trichomes to 2 mm long, the dendritic trichomes to 0.5 mm long, all trichome types sometimes glandular (but less so than the trichomes of the stems), the pubescence somewhat denser along the veins; primary veins 5–8 pairs, often drying yellowish cream; base attenuate to truncate, occasionally slightly cordate; margins entire to crisped, often densely glandular papillate, the papillae with multicellular glands, the leaves sometimes lobed in the basal part, the lobes divided less than halfway to the midrib, the apex acute to rounded; apex acute to rounded; petioles 0.2–1.5(-3) cm long, glabrous to densely pubescent like the leaves and stems, never twining. Inflorescences terminal or lateral, 1–8 cm long, simple or once branched, with 5–20 flowers, only a few open at a time, glabrous to densely pubescent with simple uniseriate trichomes to 2 mm long or dendritic trichomes to 0.5 mm long, the trichomes sometimes but not often glandular; peduncle 0.5–2(-5) cm long, in branched inflorescences flowers only occurring above the branching point; pedicels 1–1.5 mm long, ca. 0.5 mm in diameter at the base, ca. 1 mm in diameter at the apex, slender, spreading, glabrous to densely pubescent with simple or dendritic trichomes, these usually sparser than on the inflorescence axis, in live plants sometimes dark purple, articulated at the base and inserted into a short sleeve 0.5–1 mm long; pedicel scars rather unevenly spaced 1–4 mm apart. Buds obovoid or obovoid-ellipsoid, included in the calyx tube until just before anthesis. Flowers all perfect, 5-merous. Calyx tube 1.5–3 mm long, broadly cup-shaped, the lobes 1–2.5 mm long, broadly deltate, glabrous to sparsely or densely pubescent with simple or dendritic trichomes like those of the pedicels.Corolla (1-)1.3–2.3(-2.6) cm in diameter, violet to deep purple or occasionally white, with green spots edged with white at the base of the lobes, the spots separate or confluent, rotate, lobed < 1/4 of the way to the base, the lobes 0.5–3.5 mm long, 1.5–6 mm wide, apiculate, the apiculae ca. 1 mm long, abaxially sparsely to densely pubescent with tangled weak simple uniseriate trichomes to 0.5 mm long along the lobe midveins, the tissue of the sinuses glabrous on both surfaces. Filament tube minute, the free portion of the filaments 1–2 mm long, occasionally one or two filaments longer than the rest, glabrous or pubescent with minute weak tangled simple trichomes to o0.1 mm long; anthers 3.5–4.5 mm long, 1–1.5 mm wide, ellipsoid, loosely connivent or spreading and not touching, poricidal at the tips, the pores lengthening to slits with age. Ovary glabrous; style 7–9(-10) mm long, minutely glandular papillate with weak unicellular papillae to 0.1 mm long in the basal third, appearing glabrous with a lens; stigma capitate, the surface minutely papillate, green in live plants. Fruit a globose berry, 1–2 cm in diameter, green, greenish black or black when ripe, the pericarp thin and shiny, glabrous; fruiting pedicels 1.2–2 cm long, 1–1.5 mm in diameter at the apex, woody and spreading with the weight of the fruits. Seeds 50–60 per berry, ca. 2 mm long, 1.5 mm wide, flattened reniform, reddish brown, the surfaces appearing minutely pitted with sinuate cells, the cell walls thick at the base, topped with filiform projections ca. 0.05 mm long and the seed appearing hairy when mature, especially at the margin. Chromosome number: not known.

(Figure 100). Common in the western part of North America from Oregon (USA) to Baja California (Mexico), extending eastwards to Nevada and Arizona, in California absent from the Sacramento valley, from sea level to ca. 2000 m in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Solanum umbelliferum is a species of nightshade known commonly as bluewitch nightshade, or bluewitch. It can be found in chaparral habitat and low-elevation oak woodlands in California and parts of Baja California and Arizona. It is a small perennial herb or subshrub with dark gray-green oval-shaped leaves on hairy green stems that grow to a maximum height of one meter. It has bright purple or blue frilly flowers with thick yellow anthers at the center. The flowers close into spherical buds overnight. It bears small round green fruits which turn purple when ripe and resemble tiny eggplants.

It is a tough shrub which can grow in rocky and clay soils and springs up in areas recovering from wildfires or other disturbances. Like most other members of genus Solanum, S. umbelliferum contains toxic alkaloids.