Pumpkin on a Stick

Scarlet Eggplant

Solanum aethiopicum

(so-LAN-num) (ee-thee-OH-pik-um)

Synonyms: Pumpkin on a Stick, Mock Tomato Mini Pumpkins, Pumpkin Tree, Japanese Golden Eggs, Ethiopian Eggplant, Solanum integrifolium, Gilo

This picture was taken a couple of years ago but even though it was processed it didn’t make it on to the blog. This is a very interesting plant. One that has many different ways of being useful to a wide range of people. Discovered 2500 years ago the plant entered cultivation in Europe in the 16^th Century. You would probably have to classify it as a novelty plant in the garden. Personally I like a few novelty type plants in a big garden it adds a bit of whimsy and fun and they are remarkable for some reason or another. The fruits are edible but are often bitter. The leaves of Solanum aethiopicum are edible too and are considerd more nutritious than the fruits.

There are several cultivars available including an orange berried (Turkish Orange) one and a green and white striped type.

Naranjilla

Naranjilla
Solanum quitoense
(so-LAN-num) (kee-toh-EN-see)
Synonyms: Lulo, Quito Orange, Golden Fruit of the Andes, Bed of Nails, Solanum angulatum


Having never seen this plant before my trip to the Bartlett Arboretum before I had to look it up. Since it was planted amongst the tropical plant display I figured it was tender and that was correct (Zone 10). I didn’t know they produced an edible tropical fruit known as the Naranjilla or the ‘little orange’, which refers to the color of the fruit when ripe; not the citrus type of orange. This member of the Nightshade family is mostly a South American native comes in two different types. the spiny wild version and the smooth cultivated type. Cultivation has spread around the Caribbean, Central America and to Hawaii and Florida.


It wasn’t fruiting when I took these pictures in October. I read that it is very difficult to get it to fruit in the temperate latitudes. You can grow it indoors and enjoy the purple hairs the new foliage gets. The leaves are attractive when they mature also.