Solanaceae
Solanum
Solanum melongena

Solanum melongena subsp. cumingii (Dunal) J.Samuel

First published in Breakthroughs Genet. Breed. Capsicum and Eggplant: 258 (2013)
This subspecies is accepted
The native range of this subspecies is W. Indian Ocean, Tropical & Subtropical Asia. It is a shrub and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Descriptions

Seed Collecting Guide. RBG Kew (2013-2016)

Morphology General Habit
HABIT: Usually armed herbs or subshrubs to 2 m tall, pubescent with stalked many rayed stellate hairs; prickles mostly flat and straight; stems and branches shaggy tomentose, glabrescent and prickly
Morphology Leaves
LEAF unequal-paired, ovate or elliptic, 5-12(-14) cm long, 4-7 cm wide, apically acute or obtuse, basally obtuse or truncate and often oblique, 5(-7)-sinuate lobed, tomentose on both sides with stalked and sessile, many-rayed hairs, the veins with short stout prickles; petiole 1-4 cm. Inflorescences extra-axillary, few-flowered scorpioid racemes, 2.5 cm long; peduncle very short; pedicel 0.5-2 cm long
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
FLOWERS: andromonoecious, usually only one flower fertile; calyx campanulate, 1-1.5 cm long, the lobes triangular­ lanceolate, 2 mm long, hairy; corolla purple-blue or white, stellate-rotate, 1.5-3 cm long; filaments 1.5-1.8 mm long, glabrous, anthers elliptic, 5-8 mm long
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
FRUIT: Berry solitary, yellow, globose, 2-3 cm across, glabrous; fruiting pedicel 2.5-5 cm long, deflexed; fruiting calyx slightly enlarged, hairy, prickly
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
SEEDS: lenticular, 2-3 mm across.
Ecology
Habitat: Degraded scrubland and secondary vegetation.
Distribution
Distribution: Eastern, Southcentral and Southeastern Asia.
Conservation
Conservation: Least concerned
Phenology
Flower (No data), fruit (No data)
[SCG]

Seed Collecting Guide. RBG Kew (2013-2016)

Morphology General Habit
erect herb to shurb, 0.4-1.5 m, prickly
Morphology Stem
young stems erect, robust, densely stellate-pubescent and prickly, bark of older stems orange-brown to grey
Morphology Leaves
lobed to almost entire, the blades 6-22 cm long, 4-15 cm wide, ca 1.5 times longer than wide, ovate, densely stellate-pubescent on both surfaces, with 0-5 prickles on both surfaces, petiole 1-9 cm lo
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
inflorescence: 3-8 cm long, not branched, with 5-10 flowers, 1-3 flowers open at any one time, densely stellate­ pubescent, peduncle 1-4 mm long; pedicels 0.8-1.5 cm long in long-styled flowers, 0.5-0.9 cm long in short-styled flowers, 0-30 prickles on long-styled flowers, 0-5 prickles on short-styled flowers
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
flower: flowers 5-merous, heterostylous, lowermost flower long-styled and hermaphrodite, the distal flowers short­ styled and staminate. corolla 2.4-3 cm in diameter in long-styled flowers, 1.5-2.3 cm in diameter in short-styled flowers, mauve, stellate, lobed for 1/3-1/2 of its length, broad-deltoid, spreading.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
a spherical berry, 1(-2) per infructescence, 2.5-3.5 cm in diameter, the pericarp smooth, dark green with pale green and cream markings when young, yellow at maturity; fruiting calyx not accrescent, covering ca 1/6 of the mature fruit, reflexed, with 5-60 prickles
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
ca 100-200 per berry, 2.2-2.8 mm long, 1.8-2.3 mm wide, flattened-reniform, dull yellow to orange-brown
Ecology
thickets, scrubland, and savanna. altitude:0 - 1900 m
Distribution
predominantly in Ethiopia, Somalia, Arabia, and India, with some populations in n Kenya, Sudan, and extending to Mali.
Conservation
least concerned
Phenology
Flower (january - december), fruit (january - december)
[SCG]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: threatened. Confidence: low confidence
[AERP]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images

  • Seed Collection Guides

    • Seed Collection Guides
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0