Species
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Solanum diphyllum L.

Twoleaf nightshade, Twoleaf nightshade, twinleaf nightshade

Climate known 41 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

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 diphyllum, commonly known as the twoleaf nightshade, is a species of nightshade native to the Americas. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant for its clusters of dark green round fruits that turn a bright yellow when ripe.

Text from Wikipedia, “Solanum diphyllum”, 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.

Family
Solanaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +8
Wild records
205 in range· 165 open

At a glance

Warmest month
30°C
May, mean day; nights 23 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1514mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Sep 315 mm (CHELSA)
Light
25–41DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to October in the northern hemisphere (June to October at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1514 mm a year, wettest September at 315 mm, driest March at 26 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 41 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 14.7 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Pseudocapsicum diphyllum (L.) Medik.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to October in the northern hemisphere (June to October at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1183 mm of 1514 mm) falls in June to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 26.7 °C against a yearly mean of 24.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to April.

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 1514 mm a year, wettest September at 315 mm, driest March at 26 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1514 mm a year at the habitat, 1183 mm of it June to October. Wettest month September at 315 mm, driest March at 26 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 933 mm to 2512 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: 25 to 41 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 41 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 20, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

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 14.7 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 14.7 °C, the absolute minimum 7.2 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.7 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 18.2 °C in January (across the envelope cells 12.0 °C to 21.8 °C), warmest day 30.4 °C in May (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 14.7 °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.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 67% 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

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 25 °C in Jan to 30 °C in May; mean night from 18 °C in Jan to 24 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1514 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 175 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 7.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 30.7 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°30.7° 99th-percentile day (undated)7.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 25–41RH 60–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 175 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C25 / 21–3026 / 23–3128 / 25–3230 / 27–3430 / 28–3430 / 27–3330 / 26–3230 / 26–3229 / 26–3128 / 24–2927 / 23–2925 / 22–30
Night °C18 / 12–2219 / 13–2220 / 15–2321 / 17–2523 / 18–2524 / 19–2524 / 18–2524 / 18–2523 / 18–2522 / 17–2421 / 15–2319 / 13–22
Rain mm38 / 3–10930 / 4–9026 / 6–5638 / 11–7194 / 30–214226 / 133–340215 / 147–366232 / 151–377315 / 193–443195 / 95–35266 / 21–18239 / 7–145
DLI26 / 21–3530 / 25–3937 / 32–4341 / 37–4640 / 37–4537 / 34–4038 / 34–4137 / 34–4032 / 30–3530 / 27–3327 / 24–3325 / 20–33
RH %63 / 55–6862 / 54–6760 / 55–6560 / 56–6662 / 58–6665 / 62–6965 / 60–6965 / 61–6967 / 64–7166 / 62–6964 / 59–6864 / 56–68

Each figure is the median across the 175 grid cells holding the 203 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 1356:1644 (22.175, -97.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 7.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 14.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.7 °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 175 distinct grid cells holding the 203 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1356:1644 (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 22.00_-97.500, lapse-corrected +5 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 8 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua· introduced: China South-Central, Taiwan, Assam, East Himalaya, India, West Himalaya, Vietnam, Philippines, Texas, Florida, Bahamas, Dominican Republic
Kew's description“shrub” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker19.315, -96.729 · in the densest population, 106 records (52% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 205 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 165 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 145 km away. 1587 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 2 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 205 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Solanum diphyllumSolanum diphyllumSolanum diphyllumSolanum diphyllumSolanum diphyllumSolanum diphyllumSolanum diphyllumSolanum diphyllum

Photographs: (c) Kurt Miller, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) Greg III Espera, some rights reserved (CC BY); no rights reserved · CC0; (c) chen ying-hsiao, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) deepachandran, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) johnyochum, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) 胡正恆(Jackson Hu), some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Margaret Burger, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA).

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 diphyllum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Diets of Frugivorous Bats in Montane Rain Forest and Coffee Plantations in Southeastern Chiapas, Mexico
Carlos García‐Estrada, Anne Damon, Cornelio Sánchez‐Hernández, Lorena Soto‐Pinto (2011) · Biotropica
USE AND NUTRITIONAL COMPOSITION OF SOME TRADITIONAL MOUNTAIN PIMA PLANT FOODS
Joseph E. Laferrière, C. W. Weber, Edwin A. Kohlhepp (1991) · Biodiversity Heritage Library (Smithsonian Institution)
Effects of intercropping with different Solanum plants on the physiological characteristics and cadmium accumulation of Solanum nigrum
Kewen Huang, Lijin Lin, Ming’an Liao, Ji Liu (2020) · International Journal of Environmental & Analytical Chemistry
Effects of intercropping with two Solanum species on the growth and cadmium accumulation of Cyphomandra betacea seedlings
Caifang Wu, Yunmin Huan, Yang Liu, Lijin Lin (2020) · International Journal of Phytoremediation
CATATAN TENTANG Solanum diphyllum L. (SOLANACEAE) TERNATURALISASI DI PULAU JAWA
Muhammad Rifqi Hariri, Arifin Surya Dwipa Irsyam (2018) · AL-Kauniyah Jurnal Biologi
Phenolic content, anti-oxidative, anti-α-amylase and anti-α-glucosidase activities of Solanum diphyllum L.
Sheikh Julfikar Hossain, Magdi El-Sayed, Aboul-Hamid H Mohamed, Mohamed G. Sheded (1970) · Bangladesh Journal of Botany
Cytotoxicity of 3-O-(β-D-Glucopyranosyl) Etioline, a Steroidal Alkaloid from Solanum diphyllum L.
Magdi El-Sayed, Abou El‐Hamd H. Mohamed, Mohamed K. Hassan, Mohamed‐Elamir F. Hegazy (2009) · Zeitschrift für Naturforschung C
New distributional record of Solanum diphyllum (Solanaceae) from Sikkim, India
Sudhansu Sekhar Dash, Phani Bhusan Sahoo (2024) · Nelumbo
Intercropping with Solanum sect. Solanum (Solanaceae) increases selenium uptake of ‘Summer Black’ grapevine
Xuemei Zhang, Jin Wang, Qin Liu, Kewen Huang (2023) · Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy
Comparative phytochemical analysis of leaf, stem and callus extracts of Solanum diphyllum L.
M Ranjitha, Shobha Jagannath (2022) · Annals of Phytomedicine An International Journal
Characterisation of Solanum diphyllum L. - a medicinally potential species from southern Western Ghats in Kerala using SEM and FTIR spectroscopy.
V. S. Anilkumar, P. J. Aswathy, A. V. Sunila, K Murugan (2014) · World Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Solanum diphyllum L. - A New Record for India
T. K. Paul, Maitrayee Biswas (2024) · Nelumbo

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.

Other Solanum 13 in the reference

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 answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata 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: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.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 answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 49 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.