Solanum xanti (Purple Nightshade, Chaparral Nightshade)

3/14/08 Tenaja Trailhead, Cleveland National Forest, Riverside County, CA

4/3/05 Grotto Trail, Circle X Ranch, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area,

Ventura County, CA 

4/27/03 Gabrielino Trail (JPL to Oakwilde), Lower Arroyo Seco,

San Gabriel Mountains, Los Angeles County, CA

1/1/05 Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area, Irwindale, Los Angeles County, CA 

3/11/01 Charmless Wilderness Park, Santa Monica Mountains

Malibu, Los Angeles County, CA

4/3/00 Gabrielino Trail (JPL to Oakwilde)

LIFE LIST NOTES:

COMMON NAME: Purple Nightshade, Chaparral Nightshade

SPECIES: Solanum xanti

FAMILY: Solanaceae (Nightshade Family)

LIFE LIST DATE: 4/3/2000

LOCATION: Gabrielino Trail (JPL to Oakwilde), Lower Arroyo Seco, San Gabriel Mountains, Los Angeles County, CA

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Treatment from The Jepson Manual (1993):

Perennial to subshrub 4–9 dm, much-branched, ± hairy, sometimes glandular

Leaf 2–7 cm, lanceolate to ovate, ± entire to 1–2-lobed at base; base obtuse to subcordate

Inflorescence umbel-like, sometimes branched

Flower: calyx 4–5 mm; corolla 15–30 mm wide, dark blue or lavender, lobes < tube; anthers 4–5.5 mm

Fruit 10–15 mm diam, greenish

Seed 1.5–2 mm

Ecology: Shrubland, oak/pine woodland, coniferous forest

Elevation: < 2700 m.  

Bioregional distribution: California Floristic Province (except Cascade Range, Great Central Valley), n Desert Mountains 

Distribution outside California: Baja California

Flowering time: Feb–Jun

Synonyms: vars. hoffmannii Munz (Hoffmann's nightshade), intermedium Parish, montanum Munz, obispoense (Eastw.) Wiggins (San Luis Obispo nightshade); S. tenuilobatum Parish (narrow-lvd nightshade) 

Variation complex; may hybridize with  S. parishii, S. umbelliferum 

Horticultural information: DRN: 2, 3, 7, 9, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21 &SUN: 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24; CVS.