Solanacées • Solanum sisymbriifolium

Balbis Nightshade - Organic

"Beneath its intimidating thorns, it hides a fruit with an unexpected fragrance, a surprising combination of strength and sweetness."

$4.49

Number of seeds 30 seeds

Native to South America, Balbis nightshade (Solanum sisymbriifolium) is a tender perennial in the nightshade family (Solanaceae), cultivated as an annual in our climates. It displays a striking silhouette, reaching up to 1.4 meters in height, covered in stems, leaves, and calyxes bristling with golden spines. In summer, it offers a remarkable display of large, star-shaped flowers, white to lilac, reminiscent of eggplant.

An unusual companion plant, it is sometimes used as a trap crop in a soil-friendly approach. It attracts potato cyst nematodes and inhibits their development, thus helping to regenerate the soil through a natural strategy. Robust, it grows without pruning in well-drained soil and full sun, with self-sustaining growth and a structuring effect in the vegetable garden.

Its late flowering and fruiting invite rewarded patience, and its singular presence makes it a prickly guardian of the vegetable garden.

Growing climate: Temperate to cool climate
Sowing difficulty level: Moderately difficult
Care required: Low, hardy plant
Note: Tolerates a variety of soils but prefers damp locations near water.

The small, red fruits with yellow flesh, measuring 1.5 to 3 cm, ripen at the end of August. Their sweet and slightly tart flavor, with hints of lychee, makes them a unique taste. The fruit naturally detaches from its spiny calyx when ripe, making harvesting easier despite the plant's widespread presence of thorns—gloves and pruning shears are strongly recommended.

Balbis nightshade is little known in traditional local cuisine, but it attracts explorers of flavors and culinary diversity. The fruits must only be picked when ripe, as the green parts of the plant, like other Solanaceae, contain alkaloids.