Solanum jamesii

Family: Solanaceae
Common Name: wild potato
Symbol: SOJA
Description: Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Herbaceous perennials to 45 cm tall, stems erect to spreading, herbage unarmed, glabrous to pilose or somewhat glandular, plants with rhizomes bearing tubers 10-15 mm in diameter. Leaves: Alternate, pinnate with 5-9 leaflets, 7-15 cm long, 4-9 cm wide, leaflets 5-13, lanceolate-oblong, 0.5-6 cm long, 0.5-3 cm wide, lower leaflets sometimes reduced, margins entire or nearly so, upper surface glabrous or nearly so, lower surface with short glandular pubescence. Flowers: White, actinomorphic (star-shaped), 5-angled or lobed, 3-3.5 cm in diameter, lobed for one-third or more to base, lobes 8-16 mm long, ovate-lanceolate to triangular-lanceolate, pubescent at the tips, calyx rotate to campanulate, to 6 mm long, lobes triangular-ovate to lanceolate, enlarged but not enclosing fruit, stamens 5, inserted on corolla tube, filaments short, style 10-14 mm long, much exceeding stamens, stigmas globose, flowers sometimes nodding, borne in few to several-flowered cymes, inflorescences leafy, branching or pseudoterminal at branch tips. Fruits: Leathery to juicy spherical berries slightly less than 1 cm in diameter, green throughout, not closely invested by the calyx. Ecology: Found in grasslands, juniper-pi-on scrub deserts, oak thickets, coniferous and deciduous forests, from 5,500-8,500 ft (1676-2591 m); flowering July-October.