Thursday, September 8, 2016

Some Solanaceae


Photo by Matt Ball 8/31/2016

Both plants pictured here are in the Nightshade family (Solanaceae). (If you missed my tutorial, it starts here.) Plants in this family generally have flowers with 5 fused petals, as in the Desert Tobacco (Nicotiana obtusifolia) above. You don't want to ingest any part of this plant, though. Native, but nasty.





Plants in this family generally have tomato-like fruits. (The cactus in the background of this photo has spines; this plant does not.) Wolfberry (Lycium exsertum, most likely) fruits are perfectly edible. As with anything you intend to ingest, make sure that you know for sure what it is. Many plants are only edible once.


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