The nightshade family includes tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, and eggplants. Atropa belladonna, or deadly nightshade, is NOT a common weed in British Columbia. Several different nightshade weeds are found in Kamloops.
HOW TO IDENTIFY?
BITTERSWEET NIGHTSHADE (Solanum dulcamara)
- Climbing vine up to 3 metres long.
- A perennial in zones 4 and warmer.
- Leaves are egg-shaped with two small lobes at the base. They have an unpleasant odour when crushed.
- Clusters of berries are BRIGHT RED when ripe.
- Grows best in disturbed, moist soil.
- Long underground roots can send up new plants.
- TOXIC to people and animals, though some parts of the plant are used medicinally. The UNRIPENED BERRIES are especially POISONOUS.
TO CONTROL
- Wear gloves when handling and hand-pull if you can get all the roots.
- Can be covered with landscape fabric for at least two years to kill it.
BLACK NIGHTSHADE (Solanum nigrum; Solanum americanum)
- Annual or short-lived perennial that grows upright (not a vine).
- Prefers high-nitrogen soils (look for it in your vegetable garden).
- Leaves are oval to triangular, and have smooth or wavy edges.
- Star-shaped flowers are white with yellow centres. Berries are black when ripe.
- Black nightshade can be edible, but REQUIRES THOROUGH RESEARCH before eating because it can also be POISONOUS.
- UNRIPE BERRIES ARE POISONOUS to people and animals.
TO CONTROL
- Hand pull. Don’t let it go to seed!
Sources:
British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Fisheries. Guide to Weeds in British Columbia. 2002 Edmonds, J., and James Chweya. Black Nightshades: Solanum Nigrum L. and Related Species. International Plant Resources Institute, 1997.
Image:
Dellarice, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons Hodnett, R. CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons Calimo, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22047682
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