''Solanum conocarpum'', commonly known as marron bacoba, is a vascular plant species in the family

Solanaceae The Solanaceae , or nightshades, are a family of flowering plants that ranges from annual and perennial herbs to vines, lianas, epiphytes, shrubs, and trees, and includes a number of agricultural crops, medicinal plants, spices, weeds, and orn ...

found in the US Virgin Islands and

British Virgin Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = Territorial song , song = "Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands" , image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg , map_caption = , mapsize = 290px , image_map2 = Brit ...

Description

''Solanum conocarpum'' is a thornless and

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

. It is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

shrub that is endemic to the Virgin Islands. For some time, the species was considered endemic to U.S. Virgin Islands Dry Forest on the island of St. John. However, recent work in 2018 discovered a small population on neighboring Tortola, in the

. Despite this range extension, the species has a low number of reproductive adults and low recruitment: it remains listed as

Endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

by the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

.Barrios S, Monsegur-Rivera OA, Heller TM, Harrigan N, Grant KA, Gibney E, Clubbe CP, Hamilton MA
Range extension and conservation status of the rare Solanaceae shrub, Solanum conocarpum
Biodivers Data J. 2021 Jul 23;9:e69156. doi: 10.3897/BDJ.9.e69156. PMID: 34393587; PMCID: PMC8324583. ''Solanum conocarpum'' can reach up to nine feet high and is found in dry,

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

forests. This shrub grows up to about 3 meters with a grey-colored bark, elliptical shaped leaves about 2 cm long and with an orange midrib, and lavender-colored flowers. Individuals are

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

, each only having flowers of one sex. Flowering is typically induced by rain events.

References

__FORCETOC__ {{Taxonbar, from=Q17400540 conocarpum