Fire-and-Ice Plant, Litchi Tomato, Morelle de Balbis, Sticky Nightshade

plant does NOT need a pollinator.
it is self fertile.
i had 1 plant which fruit by itself.

fruit is pretty g...Read Moreood. kinda like a small cherry crossed with a tomato.
i check the plant every 3 or 4 days for ripe fruit, and usually get a handful. nice to snack on while gardening.
stickers are a pain and will stab you if your not careful.
We had 26F temps in Jan that killed lots of my plants, colder than we usually get here in New Orleans (zone 9)
the plant seemed unaffected.
plant is now 2 years old. it took at least a year for it to fruit.
have seeds to trade.

Haven't tasted the fruit yet, but this plant is definitely able to self-fertilize. I only have one in bloom and there is essentially no c...Read Morehance that it was pollinated by another, unless some sort of alien pollen worked. Looks very cool and has beautiful foliage, but beware the spines, they are SHARP! (and somewhat woody) Grows well in a wide variety of lighting conditions and doesn't need much water or root space. Would be good for planting around other crops to provide them shade and distract caterpillars, aphids, etc.

This plant requires two separate plants to achieve fruiting, i.e. it's self-infertile. The fruit itself is an edible red berry that is co...Read Morevered in a spiny husk that breaks itself apart while the fruit is ripening. It is much like a tomatillo (but with big, sharp spines!)

Solanum sisymbriifolium is an annual or perennial erect, rhizomatous herb about 1 metre in height. The stem and branches are viscid, hairy, and armed with flat, orange-yellow spines up to 15mm in length. The ovate to lanceolate leaves are borne on petioles 1-6cm long and are pubescent both above and below with stellate and glandular hairs. The leaves are pinnately divided into 4-6 coarse lobes and may be up to 40cm long and 25cm wide. Inflorescences emerge from the foliage and are internodal, unbranched racemes composed of 1-10 perfect or staminate flowers. The 5-parted flowers are white, light blue, or mauve, about 3cm in diameter, and are subtended by a hairy calyx 5-6mm long. Erect, converging anthers are 8-10mm long, and ovary is puberulent with a style 1cm long. Red, succulent, globular berries are 12-20mm in diameter with pale yellow seeds 2.9-3.2mm long (Bean, 2006; D'arcy, 1974; Radford et al., 1968).

This plant is most well known for its ability as a trap crop for potato cyst nematodes (PCN). It stimulates the hatching of PCN juveniles yet is completely resistant to them, it has been known to reduce PCN populations by 50-80%.

When planted in the field, Solanum sisymbriifolium germinates in 2-4 weeks. It may grow slowly for the first 4-6 weeks, but growth following that period can be vigorous (PCN Control Group, 2004).

I will add more about my experiences in 2013 as I grow them.

Plant grows to 4-5' and gets large white flowers, summer- frost, followed by clustered, round red fruits which, with the white blooms and...Read More thorns that cover the plant at the same time, make it a striking plant.