Black Nightshade

Whenever I find a Black Nightshade bush I pick the small black berries every few days to have with our breakfast cereals.

binomial name :SOLANUM AMERICANUM
common name: black nightshade or poisonberry

IDENTIFICATION :

This weed occurs on our property throughout most of the year-we originally thought it was “deadly nightshade” but Atropa belladonna is uncommon in our area.
It is a brittle-stemmed weed that grows up to a metre or so tall. The leaves are ovate , there are tiny white star shaped flowers, and small round black berries that are green when unripe.
On my property S americanum seems to be the main variety but elsewhere S nigrum may be predominant. To tell the difference :
Solanum americanum: the undersides of its hairy leaves are not reddish-purple. The berries are speckled with white until fully ripe and turns black.The berries are held erect.
Solanum nigrum :Berries are purple or dark green and dull. They are almost completely exposed (very small calyx).The berries droop downwards

This differentiation is academic anyway – both types are edible.

HISTORICAL:

The herb has been used in early Ayurvedic (Indian) medicine when it was combined with other ingredients to make herbal medicine for heart disease.
Early Ayurveda had also stated that the berries from the plant could be eaten safely.The herb seems to have been only used by the Greeks on inflamed parts, as a local application. In the fourteenth century, under the name of Petty Morel it was being used for canker and with Horehound and wine taken for dropsy ( congestive cardiac failure).
An American Indian tribe steeped the leaves in water to make a tea for sleeplessness and a different tribe used the cooked leaves a potherb.

The berries were widely eaten in colonial Australia - on Norfolk Island convicts cooked and ate nightshade berries.

A colonial cookbook recommended them for jam:

"everyone is acquainted with the little bushes covered with glossy black berries.... it is a nightshade but it is certainly not deadly and on the contrary it makes one of the nicest jams I know"

NUTRITIONAL : for both fruit and leaves

Protein content of the leaves and seed 25% and 17.5% respectively.
Omega 3 fatty acids 170mg/100gm (leaves)
Crude fibre about 6.5%
Carbohydrate about 55% for the leaves and seed respectively.
Mineral analysis revealed Mg,K,Ca,Fe,Na,Mn,Zn

Phosphorus and sulphur also present

Vitamin content - Vit C, Vit B,Folic acid Vit E,Vit A in both the leaves and seeds.

It does have high oxalate levels, and Cyanide levels were higher in the leaves compared to the seeds.

WHAT TO EAT - Ripe fruits - ie black.
Green probably poisonous like green potatoes.
Leaves - boiled to destroy cyanide and solanine

PUBLISHED MEDICAL REPORTS:

1 In a study with rats and mice an aqueous extract of Solanum Nigrum leaves exhibited anti -inflamatory, anti-pain and anti-pyretic (fever) activity that was concentration dependent.

2 A crude polysaccharide extract exhibited a potent anti-tumour activity in a cervical cancer mouse model probably by immunmodulation. This was confirmed in another study using a human cervical cancer cell line.

3 Traditionally the leaves are claimed to help prevent epilepsy and indeed in another study it did reduce seizures in rats,chickens and mice.

4 Finally, a South African study compared the nutritional value of the leaves of Solanum nigrum and 2 other plants with the more traditional spinach,lettuce and cabbage. They found they had good nutritional values of protein,fibre and various minerals such as Ca,K, PO4 , Zn and Fe and comparatively low levels of antinutritional phytates,alkaloids and saponins.

CONCLUSION - another worthwhile weed to consider eating,
only eat really ripe berries - they are really quite sweet.
We have not tried eating any leaves thus far.


Warning - this plant is a bio-accumulator of heavy metals
(cadmium)- so avoid eating any of it from possibly contaminated areas
It does contain oxalates and cyanide (leaves).
The green berries contain a poison like green potatoes -solanine - avoid eating unripe berries.


ref : Pubmed for the medical information
Tim Low "Wild herbs of Australia and New Zealand" Angus and Robertson (out of print)