Solanum americanum Mill.
American black, American black nightshade, American black nightshade, American nightshade
Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.
Summary
Solanum americanum, commonly known as American black nightshade, small-flowered nightshade or glossy nightshade, is a herbaceous flowering plant.
Text from Wikipedia, “Solanum americanum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.
About the genus · Solanum
Solanum is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, which include three food crops of high economic importance: the potato, the tomato and the eggplant. It is the largest genus in the nightshade family Solanaceae, comprising around 1,500 species. It also contains the so-called horse nettles, as well as numerous plants cultivated for their ornamental flowers and fruit.
Text from Wikipedia, “Solanum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.
At a glance
Also known as Solanum amarantoides Dunal; Solanum americanum subsp. nodiflorum (Jacq.) Edmonds; Solanum americanum subsp. nodiflorum (Jacq.) R.J.F.Hend.; Solanum americanum subsp. nutans (R.J.F.Hend.) R.J.F.Hend.; Solanum americanum subsp. patulum (L.) Edmonds and 45 more.
Cultivation
Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (January, March and May to October in the northern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.
The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (814 mm of 1152 mm) takes 8 months, January, March and May to October. Mean temperature moves 4.7 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to April, July and September.
Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.
Rain Habitat rain 1152 mm a year, wettest September at 114 mm, driest April at 77 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
1152 mm a year at the habitat, 814 mm of it January, March and May to October. Wettest month September at 114 mm, driest April at 77 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 443 mm to 2188 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.
Light Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 39 mol/m²/day.
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 39 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 17, the highest 90th-percentile month 52).
CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.
Warmth and air Cold floor 11.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 11.3 °C, the absolute minimum 8.1 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 27.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 14.2 °C in January (across the envelope cells 4.6 °C to 23.0 °C), warmest day 27.4 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 11.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).
NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.
Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.
CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.
The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.
Climate across the habitat
Figures by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 23 / 14–30 | 24 / 16–30 | 25 / 18–30 | 26 / 19–30 | 26 / 19–31 | 27 / 19–32 | 27 / 19–33 | 27 / 20–33 | 27 / 20–31 | 26 / 20–30 | 24 / 18–29 | 23 / 14–30 |
| Night °C | 14 / 5–23 | 15 / 6–23 | 16 / 7–23 | 17 / 9–23 | 18 / 11–23 | 18 / 11–24 | 18 / 11–25 | 18 / 11–25 | 18 / 12–24 | 17 / 11–23 | 16 / 8–22 | 15 / 5–22 |
| Rain mm | 91 / 19–255 | 85 / 13–217 | 96 / 13–222 | 77 / 22–190 | 90 / 9–197 | 110 / 3–266 | 106 / 2–235 | 93 / 3–244 | 114 / 6–270 | 114 / 19–238 | 89 / 17–217 | 87 / 18–227 |
| DLI | 28 / 18–40 | 31 / 22–39 | 34 / 29–42 | 38 / 25–45 | 39 / 21–49 | 38 / 18–52 | 38 / 20–50 | 36 / 25–46 | 33 / 28–39 | 31 / 26–37 | 28 / 20–40 | 27 / 17–41 |
| RH % | 60 / 53–68 | 60 / 54–68 | 60 / 53–68 | 60 / 52–68 | 61 / 53–68 | 63 / 54–69 | 63 / 53–68 | 63 / 52–68 | 63 / 53–69 | 61 / 53–69 | 60 / 53–68 | 60 / 53–68 |
Each figure is the median across the 871 grid cells holding the 960 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1189:1280 (30.525, -115.975). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 8.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 11.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 27.1 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 871 distinct grid cells holding the 960 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1189:1280 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 30.50_-116.250, lapse-corrected -17 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 11 m (cell mean).
Natural habitat
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Frederick Nunley, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Eli, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Takaaki Hattori, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).
Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.
Papers naming this species
Works whose title or abstract names Solanum americanum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.
Related
Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.
Malvaviscus penduliflorus Giant Mexican Turk's Cap
Lantana camara Bird's Brandy
Melia azedarach Bead Tree
Melocactus schatzlii Cactaceae
Mammillaria columbiana Cactaceae
Pinguicula casabitoana Casabito butterwortOther Solanum 13 in the reference
Solanum betaceum Tomato Tree
Solanum crispum Chilean nightshade
Solanum diphyllum Twoleaf nightshade
Solanum dulcamara Bitter Nightshade
Solanum laciniatum Kangaroo-Apple
Solanum laxum Nightshade
Solanum lycopersicum Garden Tomato
Solanum melongena Aubergine
Solanum muricatum Peruvian pepino
Solanum nigrum Black Nightshade
Solanum pseudocapsicum False Jerusalem Cherry
Solanum quitoense Quito-orange all 14 ›History & registers
Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)wcvp.distribution answeredgbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zamclimate answeredwikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.taxon not askedinat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)gbif.media answeredopenalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedEvery upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 286 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.








