Solanum linnaeanum old brown fruit

A late stage of the Solanum linnaeanum fruit is coloured in several shades of brown as in the photo. This comes after the colour transformation from green and yellow, the glossy shine still there.

It is advisable to avoid eating the often attractively coloured fruits of unidentified Solanum plants, as several of them, including this species is poisonous.

Notable exceptions are the popular food solanums, the aubergine or eggplant and the tomato, their fruits relished widely. The small greenish fruits of the potato, another famous Solanum, are again inedible, while their tubers form one of the most important staple foods on earth (Euston-Brown and Kruger, 2023; Manning, 2007; Wikipedia; iNaturalist; iSpot).