Plant Summary:
Found this creeper growing wild near the steps leading to Pearl Valley. The rare combination of purple petals with bright yellow stamens is eye catching. The common names of this creeper are bittersweet nightshade, bitter nighshade, felon wood, climbing nighshade, blue bindweed, poisonberry, poisonflower, scarlet berry, snakeberry, felon wort, violet bloom, trailing bittersweet, trailing nightshade, dogwood. Whew! That’s a lot of common names for a wild creeper. Dulcamara in Latin means Bitter sweet.
Solanum belongs to Solanceae family and is native to Europe and Asia where it grows fast and is invasive. It is perennial and grows to a height of 1 to 2 meters. The leaves are alternate and petiolate, typically 3 to 5 lobed. They are around 4 to 12 cm in length and are poisonous to humans. The flowers are loose clusters and each flower measured around 1 to 2 cm across. The five purple petals form a star shape and yellow stamens point forward. Though I could not see any fruits they are supposed to be oval in shape and red about 1cm long, soft and juice but very poisonous to humans and livestock. The fruits are liked by birds and are harmless to them.
Medicinal Value:
This plant is used in Homeopathy to treat skin problems like herpes and allergies.