 |
Solanum pyracanthos |
 |
|
| 
| | Even the fruit is protected by thorns |
|
| | Papery-purple flowers in July |
| Common name |
porcupine tomato |
| Family |
solanaceae |
| Life cycle |
tender perennial |
| Flowers |
purple (summer) |
| Size |
18-24" |
| Light |
sun-part shade |
From seed  |
germinate with bottom heat
detailed seed-starting info below
|
| Seed ripens | late October |
Another spiny solanum species. This one's yellow spines emerge from all the major leaf veins. Among the most striking in the species, at least that I've grown.
|
| | Striking color combination, courtesy of the shiny pink potato beetle larva contrasting with the orange spines |
|
|
In our garden, this plant grows in the following area: cutting garden Seed for this plant is included on my seed trade list About my plant portraits
Visitors to this page have left the following comments| Ty Silvia | May 03, 2008 | I was just given a Solanum Pyracanthum. It is about a foot high from the soil with about 10 leaves. I live in the desert by Palm Springs California. I was told it was grown from seed and was a native of Madagascar. I am not sure if I should plant it in the ground, leave it in a pot, and i am not sure how to care for it. Can you help?
I think it will grow well in a pot or in the ground - and it may be perennial for you. Make sure to keep it watered - I don't expect it to be particularly drought-tolerant. |
| Cindy | Jul 02, 2008 | Hi, I bought one of these plants and need to know how to take care of it.
Does it like morning sun, afternoon, or full? plant in the ground or keep it in a pot. Watering ?? If you know, could you please write me back with what you know.
Thank you much
Fellow plant lover
Main requirement is warm weather, and a decent amount of sun (a few hours of shade is OK). I've not seen them suffer from drought, but I imagine they don't like really dry conditions. Although mine go directly in the ground, a suitably sized pot should work as well. |
- Seed from '05 trade. Baggy 75F (100%G, 6-12d)
- Seed from '05 trade. Baggy 75F (80%G, 8-12d)
Seed from '06 garden (brown, instead of tan, seeds). Baggy 75F (36%G, 10-15d)
- Seed from '07 garden. Baggy 75F (79%G, 7-12d)
In 2007 the traded batch germinated better. Perhaps my seed did not have time to properly ripen.
I welcome comments about my web pages; feel free to use the form below to
leave feedback about this particular page. For the benefit of other visitors
to these pages, I will list any relevant comments you leave, and if
appropriate, I will update my page to correct mis-information. Faced with an
ever-increasing onslaught of spam, I'm forced to discard any comments including
html markups. Please submit your comment as plain text. If you have a
comment about the website as a whole, please leave it in my
guestbook. If you
have a question that needs a personal response, please
e-mail me.
common mis-spellings: pyracanthum
Last modified:
March 30, 2008
Contact me
|
