Family: Solanaceae

Open shrub growing to about 5’ tall and 4’ wide. Purple flowers most of the year (with warmer weather) followed by small, round, green speckled fruits. Occasionally some plants will have white flowers instead of purple.

Full sun, moderate to low water when established. Evergreen if not frozen but temperatures in the upper 20s °F will damage stems. Great for a south wall because it can take all the heat and sun you can give it, but enjoys the warms a south wall creates during the winter.

Purple flowers loved by many pollinators. Larval food plant for various owlet moths (family Noctuidae), Crambid moths (family Crambidae), and some sphingid moths (family Sphingidae).

An infusion of leaves taken for heart trouble, decoction of root taken as a general tonic and for tuberculosis, also fruits used to prepare a permanent blue dye for tattooing.

Solanum Latin for "quieting," in reference to the narcotic properties of some species, and the meaning of hindsianum is unknown, but may be named after Richard Brinsley Hinds, surgeon in the British Royal Navy, and naturalist on HMS Sulpher 1836-1842. There are 1238 species of Solanum worldwide.

Found on rocky hillside, often among boulders, from 1,500-2,000 ft. in Arizona (at Organ Pipe National Monument), Baja California, and Sonora.

Photo by Liz Makings, SEINET
Solanum hindsianum on iNaturalist