About Solanum africanum Mill.
Solanum africanum Mill. is a perennial herbaceous shrub or climber that can reach up to 3 meters in height. Its flowers are white to purple with a yellow center, and grow in hanging clusters at the tips of branches. Its leaves are simple, green, and shaped from ovate to elliptic or lanceolate with an acute apex. The leaf margin is most often entire, but is occasionally lobed. When the plant grows flat along the ground with no support to stay upright, it spreads branches out in all directions. This growth habit may be the reason it is sometimes known as drunken rope or drunken berry. The fruit is a round berry that turns black when ripe, and measures 15 millimeters in diameter. This species is commonly found in bushy areas near coastal dunes. Its distribution ranges from the Cape Peninsula to KwaZulu-Natal, and it can flower at any time of year.
