Solanum stoloniferum

Solanum stoloniferum, commonly known as wild Mexican potato or stoloniferous nightshade, is a stoloniferous perennial herb in the family Solanaceae native to highland Mexico and the southwestern United States, growing in pine-oak forests, montane meadows, and disturbed slopes at elevations from 1800 to 3000 metres. The plant produces slender underground stolons bearing small, often clustered tubers 1 to 3 centimetres across and erect or decumbent aerial stems 20 to 60 centimetres tall, usually sparsely pubescent with simple or branched hairs. The leaves are alternate and odd-pinnately compound, 8 to 20 centimetres long, with three to five pairs of lateral leaflets interspersed with smaller interjected leaflets; the terminal leaflet is largest and ovate to lanceolate, with a winged rachis. Inflorescences are loose terminal cymes of star-shaped flowers about 2 to 3 centimetres across with white to pale lavender corollas and bright yellow central anther cones. Fruits are small globose green berries containing numerous flattened seeds. The species is an important genetic resource for potato breeding.