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Although this could very well be a picture of me finding a new treasure at a favorite nursery, it's actually an illustration by David Catrow for a children's book called Plantzilla.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Solanum quitoense

Solanum quitoense is a subtropical perennial plant from northwestern South America.  I've posted pictures of its fuzzy purple foliage and flower buds before.  It is a great plant that looks friendly and furry but the leaves have thorns on the bottom making it  both lovely and dangerous!  About 20 years ago, I went to an estate sale and found an interesting-looking little plant in a 4" terra cotta pot sitting in the kitchen window of the house. It was the only plant in the place and the outside garden was not that of a plant freak.  Anyway, I took the little thing home, potted it up, put it outside for the summer and it soon became a three foot giant.  Finally, I was able to identify the plant and for several years, I hauled in inside every winter but eventually, it got too big and/or I got too lazy and I left it outside for the winter and it died.  By that time Jungle Fever was getting them in and so I thought I'd just start the game again but for the next few years, there were none to be found!  However I saw some on the Mesogeo Nursery Nursery (alas, it is no more) website and drove over to Bainbridge Island to find that they had none available for sale but they kindly sold me some cuttings which rooted nicely for me.  Because I had three plants I tried them in various spots for the winter; one in the dark but never under 50 degree basement to go dormant with the brugmansias, one in an unheated greenhouse and one in a sunny bay window inside.  The only location that S. quitoense survived in was the sunny window inside the house.  This plant, the survivor, now winters in that favorite spot.

 The leaf shape is reminiscent of datura and brugmansia to which it is related but the blooms more closely resemble those of potatoes and some other solanum/nightshade family members.
 Called naranjilla (little orange) in Equador and Panama, the fruit has a citrus flavor sometimes described as a combination of rhubarb and lime.  The juice of the fruit is green and is a prized drink in parts of South America and is also used to make wine.  Read more here.

This plant is not hardy here and is not supposed to fruit in temporate climates.  However, this year, as I was admiring the plant, I noticed that it is covered in little fruits.



How exciting! 
 These will probably not have time to ripen and will perhaps all fall off when I shock the plant by cutting off the roots that have grown ot of the drain holes and into the surrounding soil in order to take it inside,  but it's exciting to see them for the first time.

On the other hand, if they do make it, you can all come over in a few weeks for fresh naranjilla juice!
 I hope your Monday is filled with fun surprises!

13 comments:

  1. What a wonderful surprise indeed! I was just noticing that one of my Tetrapanax looks like it's going to try and bloom, the only other time that happened we got a hard freeze that knocked the blooms dead just as they started to open.

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    1. Much as I'm diggin' this endless summer, I hope we don't get one of those autumns where it stays warm for a long time and then suddenly there's a cold snap and everything gets zapped. The plants seem to prefer the gradual descent.

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  2. wow! that is really exciting! strange looking but wonderful!

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    1. Strange looking but wonderful is how many people describe me only without the wonderful part:)

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  3. Love the purple fuzzy leaf, and little fruits are cute. I'd like to have more purple in my garden.

    The brugs are beginning to bloom now that it's cooler out there. The buds often surprise me because they get quite large before I see them.

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    1. I bet that S. quitoense would love your warm summers! It's so foreign to hear that something is blooming because it's cooler. Here it's so mild in the summer that we live for the few days where the mercury rises above 80.

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  4. That plant has a great purple colour! Looks exciting...

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  5. OK, that is exciting. One of my kids spent six months in Ecuador and he talked about all the delicious fresh fruit juice you can't get in the US, and naranja was one of them.

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    1. I've never visited anywhere south of California; Ecuador sounds like a great place!

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  6. What a cool plant!I love the fuzzy fruits and little purple flowers. I think the thorns might be just the plants way of getting even for having its fruit pilfered so much. :o)

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  7. The purple colour looks awesome! What a fascinating genus.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I love to hear your thoughts.