Solanum laxum
Environmental Weed (2024)
Common names
potato vine
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Lianes & Related Trailing Plants - Dicotyledons
Flower colours
White, Yellow
Detailed description
High-climbing, usually hairless vine. Stems to 15 m long, semi-woody. Leaf stems to 3 cm long, slender, twining. Leaves alternate, 20-60 x 7-30 mm, thin to oval, occasionally with lobes at base. Flowers star-shaped, white or pale mauve with central yellow cone, 20-33 mm diameter, many and long-lasting in loose terminal clusters, Jan-Dec. Berries 4-6 mm diameter, shiny, dark blue-black, often absent.
Similar taxa
Can be confused with Jasminum polyanthum when not flowering. However S. jasminoides has alternate leaves. The potato-like flowers Immediately place this vine in Solanaceae
Habitat
Terrestrial.
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Solanaceae
Synonyms
Solanum jasminoides
Ecology
Flowering
Can flower in any month of the year.
Year naturalised
1958
Origin
S Brazil
Reason for introduction
Ornamental
Life cycle and dispersal
Perennial. Seeds are dispersed by birds, some spread is almost certainly vegetative (DoC, 1998).
Other information
Etymology
solanum: Derivation uncertain - possibly from the Latin word sol, meaning “sun,” referring to its status as a plant of the sun. Another possibility is that the root was solare, meaning “to soothe,” or solamen, meaning “a comfort,” which would refer to the soothing effects of the plant upon ingestion.
Environmental Weed (2024)
This plant is named in a list of 386 environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 prepared by DOC. 759 candidate species were considered for inclusion on this new comprehensive list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. The species considered were drawn from published lists of weed species, lists of plants that must be reported or managed by law if observed, existing national and regional programmes and agreements for pest management, and species already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Candidate species were then assessed to see if they were fully naturalised and whether they have more than minor impacts in natural ecosystems. Read the full report here.
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
SOLLAX
Referencing and citations
Attribution
Species name change from S. jasminoides to S. laxum by C C Ogle, 24 Oct 2019