Solanum aculeastrum

Dunal

Goat bitter apple, Poison apple

Solanaceae Edible: Fruit, Caution, Leaves Potential hazards — see below 156 iNaturalist observations

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iNaturalist· cc-by-nc

Summary

Solanum aculeastrum is commonly known as soda apple, sodaapple nightshade, goat apple, poison apple, or more ambiguously as "bitter-apple". It is a poisonous nightshade species from Africa and only distantly related to true apples. The term "soda apple" probably derives from "Sodom apple", modified due to the fruit's detergent properties.

Description

A shrub or small tree. It grows to 4 m high. The stem is erect and prickly. The bark is greyish-brown. The leaves are green and with lobes. The leaves are deep green above and white and woolly underneath. The leaves are 4.5-14 cm long by 3-11 cm wide. The flowers are white and star shaped. The fruit are orange to brownish berries. They are 5 cm long.

Edible Uses

The fruit is eaten but is bitter, though some edible selections have been made.

Traditional Uses

CAUTION: The fruit is poisonous. Some edible kinds have been selected. The fruit are eaten but are bitter.

This uses section is brief — help expand it

Medicinal Uses

Because of its dense growth and prickly nature, soda apple is used as a hedge and living barrier for containing livestock. It is often used as a soap replacement, as it is high in saponin. Traditional Zulu practices use the fruit - fresh, boiled, or charred - in herbal medicine to treat a wide variety of afflictions, including cancer, toothaches, and ringworm. The Taita tribe of southern Kenya use the ripe yellow fruit to treat paronychia. The roots are chewed and, the sap ingested to alleviate stomach aches.

Known Hazards

The fruit is poisonous.

Distribution

A tropical plant. It prefers rich moist soils. It does best in a protected shady position. It is drought and frost tender. It grows naturally in wooded grassland. It grows between 1,050-2,100 m above sea level. In Nigeria it grows to 2,300 m.

Where It Grows

Africa, America, Australia, Brazil, Cameroon, Central Africa, East Africa, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Southern Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, West Africa, Zimbabwe,

Cultivation

Plants are grown from seed.

Production

It is fast growing.

Notes

There are about 1400 Solanum species. There are about 700 in tropical America and about 100 in Africa.

Also Known As

Mtuma, Mtundu wa matungwi, Omotugunda

References (17)

Bodkin, F., 1991, Encyclopedia Botanica. Cornstalk publishing, p 933
A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 13(1):366. 1852
Burkill, H. M., 1985, The useful plants of west tropical Africa, Vol. 5. Kew.
Chapman, J. D. & Chapman, H. M., 2001, The Forest Flora of Taraba and Andamawa States, Nigeria. WWF & University of Canterbury. p 203
Dale, I. R. and Greenway, P. J., 1961, Kenya Trees and Shrubs. Nairobi. p 538

Show all 17 references

East African Herbarium records, 1981,
Jardin, C., 1970, List of Foods Used In Africa, FAO Nutrition Information Document Series No 2.p 101
Mutie, F. M., et al, 2023, Important Medicinal and Food Taxa (Orders and Families) in Kenya, Based on Three Quantitative Approaches. Plants 2023, 12, 1145
Palgrave, K.C., 1996, Trees of Southern Africa. Struik Publishers. p 820
Peters, C. R., O'Brien, E. M., and Drummond, R.B., 1992, Edible Wild plants of Sub-saharan Africa. Kew. p 186
Ruiters-Welcome, A. K., 2019, Food plants of southern Africa. Ph.D. thesis. Univ. of Johannesburg p 103
Samuels, J., 2015, Biodiversity of Food Species of the Solanaceae Family: A Preliminary Taxonomic Inventory of Subfamily Solanoideae. Resources 2015, 4. 277-322
Swaziland's Flora Database http://www.sntc.org.sz/flora
von Katja Rembold, 2011, Conservation status of the vascular plants in East African rain forests. Dissertation Universitat Koblenz-Landau p 182
Welcome, A. K. & Van Wyk, B.-E., 2019, An inventory and analysis of the food plants of southern Africa. South African Journal of Botany 122 (2019) 136–179
White, F., Dowsett-Lemaire, F. and Chapman, J. D., 2001, Evergreen Forest Flora of Malawi. Kew. p 553
World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew