Solanum citrullifolium var. citrullifolium
Stems with spreading prickles 3–7 mm and often to 1 mm diam. at base, fewer than 20 per cm of stem, densely pubescent with short-stipitate glands and often with unbranched, spreading hairs to 1 mm. Calyx lobes 2.5–3.8 mm. Seeds reticulately wrinkled or merely undulate.
Phenology: Flowering Apr–Oct.
Habitat: Well-drained, often igneous, rocky or sandy soils, sparsely vegetated mountainsides, dry grasslands, disturbed places.
Elevation: (100–)1300–1900 m.
Distribution
Fla., Tex., Mexico (Coahuila).
Discussion
Variety citrullifolium is found in central and western Texas south to Mexico. The plants from central Texas differ from those of western Texas and Mexico in having more rounded ultimate leaf lobes, leaf undersides often lacking stellate hairs, and longer fruiting inflorescences. In Florida, var. citrullifolium has escaped from cultivation and become naturalized. Massachusetts records (F. C. Seymour 1982) are historical (1885, 1913, 1949) as introductions that did not persist.
Selected References
None.