''Solanum pseudolulo'' is a

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...

perennial plant In horticulture, the term perennial (''wikt:per-#Prefix, per-'' + ''wikt:-ennial#Suffix, -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annual plant, annuals and biennial plant, biennials. It has thus been d ...

from northwestern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. The ''pseudolulo'' is a large herbaceous plant or a small shrub, with heart-shaped leaves. The leaves and stems of the plant are covered in short hairs, and the entire plant is often covered in sharp spines. Occasionally known as ''lulo de perro'', the pseudolulo bears edible fruit, but is rarely cultivated. Instead, the plant proliferates as a weedy species at medium-altitude locations in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

. The fruit is generally regarded as inferior to the true lulo - naranjilla - but the fruit is occasionally sold in markets, and the plant is generally tolerated as a garden intruder. Unlike the lulo/naranjilla, the pseudolulo thrives in sunnier locations. The fruit is a large

berry A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples of berries in the cul ...

, green when unripe, ripening to yellow or yellow-orange. The orange or yellow flesh is filled with an abundance of small seeds. The fruit is covered with hairs which detach when the fruit has ripened. Some botanists consider the pseudolulo to be worthy of investigation as an agricultural fruit plant. (2005)
''Solanum pseudolulo''
Version of December 2005. Retrieved 2008-SEP-25.

Classification

Within the genus

Solanum ''Solanum'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, which include three food crops of high economic importance: the potato, the tomato and the eggplant (aubergine, brinjal). It is the largest genus in the nightshade family Solana ...

, ''S. pseudolulo'' is a part of the leptostemonum clade. Within this clade, ''S. pseudolulo'' belongs to the Lasiocarpa clade. Other species within this clade include: ''S. candidum'', ''S. hyporhodium'', ''S. lasiocarpum'', ''S. felinum'', ''S. quitoense'', ''S. repandum'' and ''S. vestissimum''. Specimens of each of these species are often spiny, covered in short hairs, and share a similar leaf shape; many of them bear edible fruit, and hybrids between species are possible.

References

External links

Taxonomy

Tropical fruit pseudolulo Edible Solanaceae Crops originating from Ecuador Crops originating from Colombia {{fruit-stub