Solanum eleagnifolium flower

The flowers of Solanum eleagnifolium are borne solitary on woolly stalks from leaf axils near branch tips. The blue to pale lavender or white flowers have five pointed petals, their sides fused to each other in a continuous, star-shaped corolla.

The five conspicuous oblong anthers are yellow, in the photo cohering around the long white style tipped by a green stigma. Flowering happens in spring and summer. The small, globose berries are yellow, orange or red, drying to brown.

At least some Solanum species have a system called buzz pollination or sonication: Pollen is released through a tiny aperture or pore in the front of the anther. This only happens when the wings of the pollinator insect (a bee, yet not a honey bee), buzz at “the right” frequency close by, forcing the pollen out (Van Wyk and Malan, 1997; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; Wikipedia; www.anneleonard.com).