About Solanum laxum Spreng.
Solanum laxum Spreng., commonly known as jasmine-flowered nightshade, is a fast-growing woody climbing plant. It produces branches 2 to 8 meters long, with a base diameter that can exceed 10 centimeters, and climbs by wrapping its leaf stalks around supports. Its shoot axes have a distinct zig-zag angular shape, and are hairless; when young, they may bear simple, white single-row trichomes that are less than 0.5 millimeters long. New growth is either hairless, or has fine to sparse hair. The bark of older branches is green, reddish green, or often purple-green when the plant grows in direct sunlight. Its leaves are ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 30 to 50 millimeters long and 15 to 25 millimeters wide. Sympodial units of this plant hold many leaves. Leaves are usually simple, and only very rarely divided into 1 to 4 irregular lobes with pinnate splitting.
The native range of this species runs from the southeastern Brazilian states of Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul, to the mouth of the Río de la Plata in Argentina and Uruguay, and also extends to Paraguay. Within its native range, it grows in Atlantic rainforest, Araucaria forests, and open forest edges. Naturalized plants can tolerate light frosts in suitable locations. The species often becomes naturalized as an escape from cultivation in both temperate and subtropical regions, occurring from near sea level up to altitudes over 500 meters, and has become naturalized in Brisbane and Sydney, Australia.
Solanum laxum is grown as an ornamental plant. The white-flowered cultivar 'Album' has been awarded the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. It is hardy down to −10 °C (14 °F), but needs a sheltered position in full sun. All parts of the plant are poisonous, and cause abdominal pain if eaten, so gloves should be worn when handling any part of the plant.
