American Black Nightshade is an annual or perennial,
slightly hairy herb, mostly erect, 1-3 ft tall. Leaves are ovate, 4-8 x
2-4 cm, membranous, becoming hairless or sparsely velvet-hairy, base
flat to wedge-shaped, margin entire or distantly sawtoothed , tip
pointed. Flowers are borne in 4-10-flowered umbels in leaf-axils.
Flowers are stalked, flower-stalk very short, sepal-cup cup-shaped,
sepals nearly half fid, ovate, velvet-hairy, fringed with hairs,
strongly reflexed in fruit. Flowers are white, rarely bluish or
purplish, petals more than half fid, ovate-oblong. Filaments short,
anthers conniving. Fruiting flower-stalk is erect or nodding. Berry is
shining black, spherical, 5-8 mm in diameter. American Black Nightshade
is native to the American continents, widely naturalized in the
Tropical World. Flowering: February-August.
Identification credit: Nidhan Singh
Photographed in Kaithal, Haryana.
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The flower labeled American Black Nightshade is ...