Kangaroo-apple

Solanum laciniatum, commonly called kangaroo apple or poroporo, is a fast-growing, soft-wooded shrub in the Solanaceae family, native to Australia and New Zealand, where it pioneers disturbed forest clearings, regenerating bushland and roadsides. The plant reaches 2 to 4 metres in height with a sparsely branched, succulent stem that often takes on purplish tints. The leaves are alternate, glabrous, dark glossy green, and notably variable in form: lower or juvenile leaves are large and deeply pinnatifid into several linear to lanceolate lobes 8 to 30 centimetres long, while upper leaves are often entire, lanceolate and undivided. The flowers are showy, borne in axillary cymes, each about 3 to 4 centimetres across, with five fused, deep violet-blue to purple petals forming a broad star and surrounding a central cone of bright yellow anthers. The fruits are ovoid berries 1.5 to 2.5 centimetres long, ripening from green to yellow then deep orange; unripe fruits and the entire plant contain toxic steroidal glycoalkaloids.