Blue Witch
Blue Witch
Solanum umbelliferum
(Photo by Tim Reiley)
This woody shrub is
also known as Blue Nightshade or Solanum umbelliferum. It
likes dry rocky slopes, like the one leading up the
hill to the substation. Not that common around the lab,
but pretty common in the local parks. It
blooms all spring and summer. It has greyish-green leaves
and makes green berries about the size of a hazelnut. The
berries develop in May and June.
Yes, this shrub is related to Deadly Nighshade. All parts of the plant
contain the deadly alkaloid Solanine. Surprisingly, it is also a close
relative of the tomato and potato. The cultivated "potato bush" looks
a lot like it, but the petals of the potato bush are darker and don't
have the little yellow or white spots on each petal. The wild
tomatillo is also in the Nightshade family. Apparently, it took two
hundred years for Europeans to get up the courage to eat tomatoes. Can
you blame them when a few berries of the Deadly Nightshade can
kill?
