Solanum paniculatum

Solanum paniculatum, known in Brazil as jurubeba, is a spiny perennial shrub of the Solanaceae family, typically growing to about 2 metres tall and as wide. Stems are erect to spreading, armed with scattered straight or recurved prickles, and bear large, alternate, ovate leaves with shallowly to deeply lobed or sinuate margins, often with prickles along the midrib and main veins. The leaf surface is rough above and densely covered with stellate hairs beneath. Star-shaped flowers with five fused violet to pale lavender petals and prominent yellow anthers are produced in branched panicles throughout most of the year. The fruit is a small, rounded, greenish to yellow berry containing many small seeds. The species is widespread across almost all of Brazil and adjacent parts of Bolivia, Paraguay and northern Argentina, growing on roadsides, pastures, secondary scrub, savanna and cerrado vegetation, where it is one of the most familiar bitter-tasting weedy shrubs.