Species
+

Solanum nigrum L.

Black Nightshade, European black nightshade, Poisonberry, Schwarzer Nachtschatten (DE); Black Nightshade (EN); Yerbamora negra (ES)

Climate known 63 photographs
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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 nigrum, the European black nightshade or simply black nightshade or blackberry nightshade, is a species of flowering plant in the family Solanaceae, native to Eurasia and introduced in the Americas, Australasia, and South Africa. Ripe berries and cooked leaves of edible strains are used as food in some locales, and plant parts are used as a traditional medicine. Some other species may also be referred to as "black nightshade".

Text from Wikipedia, “Solanum nigrum”, 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
Great Britain, Ireland, Austria +82
Wild records
273 in range· 44 open

At a glance

Warmest month
27°C
Aug, mean day; nights 20 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
730mm/yr
11 wet months · peak Dec 103 mm (CHELSA)
Light
13–46DLI
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 winter growing season, September to February and April in the northern hemisphere (September to February and April at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 730 mm a year, wettest December at 103 mm, driest July at 14 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 13 to 46 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 2.7 °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 Solanum acutifolium Kit. ex Kanitz; Solanum astroites G.Forst.; Solanum atriplicifolium Desp.; Solanum atriplicifolium Desp. ex Dunal; Solanum besserianum Weinm. and 45 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a winter growing season, September to February and April in the northern hemisphere (September to February and April at the habitat, northern).

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

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (550 mm of 730 mm) falls in September to February and April, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 14.2 °C against a yearly mean of 16.5 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: March to August and October.

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 730 mm a year, wettest December at 103 mm, driest July at 14 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

730 mm a year at the habitat, 550 mm of it September to February and April. Wettest month December at 103 mm, driest July at 14 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 462 mm to 1498 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: 13 to 46 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 13 to 46 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 7, the highest 90th-percentile month 50).

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 2.7 °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 2.7 °C, the absolute minimum -1.1 °C, 11 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.0 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 6.5 °C in January (across the envelope cells 1.5 °C to 11.9 °C), warmest day 27.4 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 2.7 °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: 59 to 61% 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 13 °C in Jan to 27 °C in Aug; mean night from 7 °C in Jan to 20 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 730 mm of rain a year, most in Dec. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 232 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -1.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 33.0 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost33.0° 99th-percentile day (undated)-1.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 13–46RH 59–61 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 232 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 °C13 / 7–1713 / 7–1716 / 10–2017 / 13–2420 / 16–2724 / 19–3027 / 21–3327 / 21–3225 / 20–3021 / 16–2817 / 10–2314 / 7–19
Night °C7 / 2–127 / 2–129 / 3–1411 / 6–1514 / 9–1817 / 12–2120 / 15–2420 / 15–2518 / 13–2215 / 9–2011 / 6–168 / 3–13
Rain mm78 / 23–17067 / 28–12958 / 30–11760 / 16–12452 / 5–12231 / 1–13214 / 1–16025 / 1–14362 / 2–13887 / 28–16793 / 33–160103 / 25–187
DLI15 / 9–2321 / 14–2830 / 21–3637 / 29–4342 / 33–4745 / 34–5046 / 33–5041 / 29–4532 / 23–3823 / 15–3116 / 10–2513 / 7–22
RH %61 / 56–6660 / 56–6559 / 54–6360 / 53–6360 / 53–6460 / 52–6560 / 51–6660 / 52–6660 / 54–6561 / 57–6561 / 55–6661 / 56–67

Each figure is the median across the 232 grid cells holding the 272 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 987:3427 (40.625, -8.625). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -1.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 2.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.0 °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 232 distinct grid cells holding the 272 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 987:3427 (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 40.50_-8.750, lapse-corrected -12 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 33 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.
NativeGreat Britain, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Baleares, Corse, France, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Romania, Sicilia, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia, Krym, Central European Russia, South European Russia, Ukraine, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Western Sahara, Azores, Canary Is., Cape Verde, Madeira, Selvagens, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Afghanistan, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Sinai, Turkey, Gulf States, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, China South-Central, Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, China North-Central, China Southeast, Tibet, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Andaman Is., Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., South China Sea, Thailand, Vietnam· introduced: Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Belarus, Baltic States, East European Russia, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Cape Provinces, Ascension, St.Helena, Altay, Buryatiya, Chita, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, West Siberia, Amur, Khabarovsk, Kuril Is., Magadan, Primorye, Sakhalin, Kazakhstan, Kirgizistan, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, Borneo, Jawa, Malaya, Philippines, Sumatera, New Guinea, Norfolk Is., New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, Antipodean Is., Chatham Is., New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Alaska, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, California, Nevada, Utah, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, District of Columbia, Mexico Northwest, Kerguelen, Tristan da Cunha
Kew's description“annual or perennial” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker38.644, -9.193 · in the densest population, 75 records (27% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 273 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 44 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1404 km away. 296 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 1 in-range record is placed to worse than 10 km and stays 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 273 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Solanum nigrumSolanum nigrumSolanum nigrumSolanum nigrumSolanum nigrumSolanum nigrumSolanum nigrumSolanum nigrum

Photographs: (c) zebedeugalinha, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Sandy Wolkenberg, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Duarte Frade, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist and GBIF media 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 nigrum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Total Phenolic Content, Flavonoid Content and Antioxidant Potential of Wild Vegetables from Western Nepal
Sushant Aryal, Manoj Kumar Baniya, Krisha Danekhu, Puspa Kunwar (2019) · Plants
Green synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles using Solanum nigrum leaf extract and their antibacterial activity
M. Ramesh, M. Anbuvannan, G. Viruthagiri (2014) · Spectrochimica Acta Part A Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy
Natural compounds as potential adjuvants to cancer therapy: Preclinical evidence
Shian‐Ren Lin, Chia‐Hsiang Chang, Che‐Fang Hsu, May‐Jwan Tsai (2019) · British Journal of Pharmacology
Stress Tolerance of Photosystem II in Vivo
Michel Havaux (1992) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Screening of medicinal plant extracts for antioxidant activity
Veeru Prakash, Mishra Pankaj Kishor, Mishra Meenakshi (2009) · Journal of Medicinal Plants Research
Ethnomedicinal uses of the local flora in Chenab riverine area, Punjab province Pakistan
Muhammad Umair, Muhammad Altaf, Rainer W. Bussmann, Arshad Mehmood Abbasi (2019) · Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
HEAVY METAL CONTAMINATION AND ACCUMULATION IN SOIL AND WILD PLANT SPECIES FROM INDUSTRIAL AREA OF ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN
Riffat Naseem Malik, Syed Zahoor Husain, Ishfaq Nazir (2010) · Pakistan Journal of Botany
Effects of cadmium and arsenic on growth and metal accumulation of Cd-hyperaccumulator Solanum nigrum L.
Yuebing Sun, Qixing Zhou, Chunyan Diao (2007) · Bioresource Technology
Interaction of Cd-hyperaccumulator Solanum nigrum L. and functional endophyte Pseudomonas sp. Lk9 on soil heavy metals uptake
Liang Chen, Shenglian Luo, Xiaojie Li, Yong Wan (2013) · Soil Biology and Biochemistry
An ethnobotanical survey of indigenous medicinal plants in Hafizabad district, Punjab-Pakistan
Muhammad Umair, Muhammad Altaf, Arshad Mehmood Abbasi (2017) · PLoS ONE

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 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence search API
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: filled 2026-09-20
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media did not answercarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: api.gbif.org not asked: offline re-derivation
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; 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 10 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.