Solanum tomentosum

Solanum tomentosum, sometimes called the wild aubergine or in Afrikaans the slangappel (snake apple) or gifappeltjie (little poison apple), is a variable, densely felted and straggling shrub that grows to 1 m.

The stems are armed with a sparse or dense covering of scattered, golden brown spines that are sharp, usually straight and sometimes recurving, about 1,2 cm long. Plants without spines occur occasionally.

The species distribution of S. tomentosum in the Western Cape is in the Karoo and Little Karoo, in Namaqualand in the Northern Cape, dry parts of the Eastern Cape, as well as the Free State and Lesotho.

The habitat is variable lowlands, the plants growing among scrub or grass on rocky lower hillsides, riverbeds or roadsides where it thrives on disturbed sites. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; Shearing and Van Heerden, 2008; www.kew.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).