I’ve identified another thing that most people pass off as as weed, and I had cut down several of these before I stopped to look them up. As usual my skepticism towards my own ignorance, born of subservience to “common knowledge”, inspired me to look it up. After two hours of online searching, and using a mobile app I won’t name just yet, I am pretty certain it is black nightshade (solanum americanum).

Nightshade! That’s like, poisonous, right? In my internet research, there is a mix of information about this plant. Some people say the berries are poisonous, others say the berries are edible as they are. But I think they’re going to be edible.

“Green Deane” writes about the three varieties in the U.S. and how to identify nightshades. In his article, he quotes Julia Morton, author of Wild Plants for Survival in South Florida, as saying ripe americanum berries are edible, “raw or cooked,” and another author confirms it. His article is a compelling read and holds a wealth of information.

Sam Thayer has an extensive, well-written article on the nightshade plant. In it, he confirms many sources that say the ripe berries are edible, that the berries are used worldwide in dishes, sauces, jams, pies — and the greens are also edible, if prepared propertly. According to Sam, “Their flavor is most like that of ground-cherries (genus Physalis) – like fruity tomatoes.”

In regards to nutrient accumulation (which would make it great for compost) I don’t have information.

I will wait to see the mature fruit of this plant before I make any decisions. So far my outlook is positive. Unfortunately, black aphids seem to be particularly interested in making pilgrimages to the leaves of this plant; I have seen a few other nightshade plants in the yard with curled leaves — and lots of aphids underneath. An article I’ve read says that ants feed aphids, so to reduce aphid populations, reduce ant populations (ants protect aphids and vice versa).

I am not sure what this means from a macro view of the yard’s “health.”

Theory on solanine:

This plant, like others, is toxic because it has high amounts of solanine, which has insecticidal properties. I wonder if by growing a lot of this “toxic” plant, and then composting it, could I help next year’s plants be more pest-resistant with solanine-enriched soil?

Black nightshade in the yard: a potential fruit by mehron is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International