Solanum esuriale

Solanum esuriale is a perennial herb or low subshrub in the nightshade family (Solanaceae), native to inland Australia. The plant typically grows 15-40 cm tall from a deep rhizomatous rootstock that allows it to resprout after grazing, fire, or drought. Stems are erect to spreading, often slightly woody at the base, and clothed in fine stellate hairs giving a greyish-green appearance. Leaves are alternate, narrow-elliptic to lanceolate, 2-7 cm long, with entire to shallowly sinuate margins. Inflorescences are short axillary cymes bearing a few flowers; each flower has a rotate to shallowly campanulate corolla 1.5-2.5 cm across, pale violet to lavender, with five yellow anthers forming a central cone typical of the genus. The fruit is a globose berry about 1-1.5 cm in diameter, ripening from green to yellow or pale orange. It occurs widely in arid and semi-arid grasslands and shrublands across mainland Australia.