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Tropical Soda Apple

Solanum viarum

Plant: Upright, thorny perennial subshrub or shrub, 3-6 ft (1-2 m) tall, with oak-shaped leaves, clusters of tiny white flowers yielding green to yellow spherical fruit over 1 in (2.5 cm) in wide, sweet smelling and attractive to livestock and wildlife. Spreading rapidly by seeds and persists by rootstocks.

Stem: Upright to leaning, much branched, hairy and covered with broad-based white to yellow thorns.

Leaves: Alternate, 4-7 in (10-18 cm) long and 2-6 in (5-15 cm) wide, hairy with thorns projecting from veins and petioles, margins deeply lobed (oak-shaped), dark green with whitish midveins above and lighter green beneath.

Flowers: May-Aug. Axillary clusters of several, 5 white petals becoming recurved, yellow to white stamen projecting from center.

Fruit and seeds: Jun-Nov (year-round in FL). Spherical berry, green mottled ripening to yellow, 1-1.5 in (2.5-4 cm) wide, hairless, pulpy with 200-400 seeds per berry, seeds reddish brown.

Ecology: Occurs on open to semi-shady sites.
June (J. Everest)

June (J. Everest)
Spreading rapidly by livestock and wildlife dispersed seeds.

Resembles horsenettle (Solanum carolinense) which is a forb, 8-30 in (20-80 cm) tall, leaves long-elliptic to ovate and lobed, 3-5 in (7-12 cm) long and 1-3 in (3-8 cm) wide, with prickly yellow spines on stems and lower leaf veins, fruit similar to tropical soda apple but smaller, less than 1 in (2.5 cm) wide.

Exotic Pest Plant Control Recommendations

Bayer International Code - SOVI2
FIA Code - 6095

September (C. Bryson) November (J. Everest)


May (C. Bryson) July (C. Bryson)


June (J. Everest) June (J. Everest)

* USDA, NRCS. 2001. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.1 (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA. February 5, 2002.
States with suspected
infestations are shown in red.*
line
USDA Forest ServiceUSDA APHIS PPQ The Bugwood Network University of Georgia Invasive.org is a joint project of
The Bugwood Network, USDA Forest Service & USDA APHIS PPQ.
The University of Georgia - Warnell School of Forest Resources and
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences - Dept. of Entomology
Last updated on Sunday, June 29, 2003 at 10:15 PM
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