9.

Fig. 11

Type.

Argentina. Buenos Aires, P. Commerson s. n. (lectotype, designated by Vorontsova and Knapp (2016: 307): P-LA [P 00357630, lower plant fragment, Morton neg. 8391]; isolectotypes: (P 00371604, P 00371605, P 00371606).

Description.

Prickly and sticky annual; prickles basally slightly thickened; indumentum of glandular hairs mixed with stellate and simple hairs; leaves pinnatisect or bipinnatisect, leaf lobes acute; corolla white or violet, 20.0–30.0 mm in diameter, actinomorphic; stamens equal, 10.0–15.0 mm long; fruit 10–20 mm in diameter, red, exserted.

Taxonomic note.

The species reports from Krasnodar Krai, North Caucasus (Galushko 1980), are misidentifications corresponding to S. heterodoxum.

Distribution.

This South American species was introduced very early into European botanical gardens (ergasiophyte) and, in addition, was planted in fallow potato fields as a trap crop for plant-parasitic nematodes (Aubriot and Knapp 2022). Outside its native range, it is considered an aggressive weed in tropical and subtropical parts of Asia (Zhang et al. 1994; Saha and Datta 2013), Africa, and Australia (Jaeger 1985), as well as in Italy (https://dryades.units.it/floritaly/index.php?procedure=taxon_page&tipo=all&id=4719).

It can also thrive in a subtropical climate in the Black Sea Region, e. g., in the Republic of Abkhazia, where it was first collected in 1952 (Kolakovsky 1986), with many subsequent records dating back to the 1960 s (LE!, MW!). Solanum sisymbriifolium appears to be naturalized in Abkhazia, where it is found mainly in coastal sands and ruderal places. Based on these findings, new records from neighboring Krasnodar Krai (North Caucasus), especially in coastal areas, are highly likely.

In European Russia, the species was found only twice in the steppe and forest-steppe zones (Fig. 12). Its oldest record (a specimen at MW, collected without precise locality information by I. F. Kramsakov in the 1880 s) originated from Taganrog or Novocherkassk in Rostov Oblast. The second specimen was collected from a railway in Izhevsk, Udmurt Republic (Tuganaev and Puzyryov 1988; Baranova and Puzyryov 2012).

Ecology.

Railways, waste places.

Residence status.

Casual alien.

Pathways of introduction.

Transport – Contaminant: seed contaminant.

As the species was collected from railways, we assume its arrival with contaminated grain.