solanum help please

Hello all!
I bought this mystery shrub early this summer at a Lidl in France; it was simply labelled solanum with no further details. It has narrow elongated leaves and produced small white flowers which have since been followed by heavy, sumptuous fruit. Right now, they are variegated green and purple and about the size of peaches. Can anyone out there identify it for me? And since I'm in France, I have to ask ... is it edible?

 

Hello tshandy and welcome to GC.

I cannot see your picture to decide exactly which you purchased, however, all
Solanums are highly toxic although tomatoes, potatoes and eggplant are amongst this species they are the exceptions.

You possibly have Solanum crispin which is a popular climbing plant.

http://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0WTf2kMylxO8XYA9jNNBQx.?p=White+Solanum&fr=my-myy&ei=utf-8&x=wrt

So, to answer your question ... NO, it is not edible!

 

Hi Tshandy. I can't see your picture, but if I do a right click/open in new window and then click on the small image to enlarge it - it comes up OK.

Although I am growing a couple of Solanum - I don't recognise the fruit with its stripes. As Victoria says - it may well be Solanum crispum. It seems to be the most common and most showy one. I can Google loads of pictures of S. crispum flowers, but can't get any fruit to show.

As Victoria says, the fruit are generally poisonous. I grew Solanum laciniatum last year and read that the raw fruit are poisonous but they can be boiled to make jam. But I think I would steer clear.

 

Having now seen the picture (Thanks Peter) could it be Solanum Muricatum (Melon Pear)

 

I believe you may be correct gcc and, if so, the fruit is edible ... but I would be wary! Perhaps there is a white-flowered variety but this says purple and white ...

http://coolexotics.com/plant-81-solanum-muricatum.html

 

Thanks, everyone!

Solanum muricatum - melon pear - that's the one!

I've just checked back at the pics I took earlier in the season and sure enough, the flowers are actually purple, just white in the middle. A ringer for the one shown on your link, Victoria.

The shopper ahead of me in Lidl also had one in her basket. She told me it had big fruits that tasted quite nice, but in a country where people die every year from home-picked mushrooms, I thought I'd better check first. When I googled Solanum I found potatoes, tomotoes and all kinds of toxic nightshades. Enough to make me swallow my curiosity!

Edible or not, it is certainly an easy grow here. I just hope I can mollycoddle it through the winter...
Thanks to all for your helpful replies!

 

Well done GCC. I have grown several Solanum - but not seen that one before. The fruit are very attractive. But I still wouldn't eat them.

 

Up until last year I was growing muricatum.
I gave up on it because it was usually Christmas before the fruit ripened, plus the plant was a sucker for RSM.

I got the impression the plant would do well if just left to wander, rooting as it goes forming a large low mound.

Tasted a bit like melon I thought, but being so late, I doubt it ripened properly.

 

It is also called a pepino fruit if that helps. Jungle seeds sells them.