What plant (of the Nightshade family) this is?

Discussion in 'Plants: Identification' started by Sulev, Jun 23, 2019.

  1. Sulev

    Sulev Contributor

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    Hi!

    I sowed some seeds of different nightshades this spring: tomatoes, eggplants, cape gooseberrys, tomatillos, pepinos and naranjillas. Of those species seeds of naranjilla, eggplant and pepino dulce seemed to fail sprouting for several months, so I thought, that seeds, bought from the internet, were not viable, removed the label sticks from the pots and brought these pots to the yard. To my big surprice some plants still sprouted few months after sowing, but now I don't know, what plants they are.

    I have grown eggplants before, these seedlings are not very similar to my previous year's eggplants. I never tried to grow naranjilla or pepino dulce before, so these are my primary suspects, but my seedlings are not very similar to those species also, as much as I have found pictures of those seedlings of similar age from the internet. To my eyes, they are more similar to the tamarillo seedlings, Tamarillo - Wikipedia

    Could someone here help me to identify the plant, please?

    Sulev
     

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  2. Sulev

    Sulev Contributor

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    This plant has moderately hairy (softish hairs, not rough or spiky) stem and leaves (young leaves seem to be significantly less hairy), also several suckers or branches (most of them ca 5 cm long, although the plant itself is only ca 10 cm high). Today, after posting my first message here I found, that even one tiny flower bud is visible, if to examine the stem from the side. That should rule out naranjilla, as this species should not flower so young. And, AFAIK, pepino also shouldn't flowers so soon. I still don't rule out eggplant, but my previous eggplants had more upwards growth, sparse leaves with more oblong shape and more hairs at very young stage. This plant seems to like to grow more horizontally.
     
  3. Sulev

    Sulev Contributor

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    It seems, that this is still an eggplant, but not the same cultivar, that I have grown before.
    Added picture of the flower bud and of the side view too.
     

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  4. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    But one you know you planted? It sounds like you have to keep those seed packages or label sticks forever.
     
  5. Sulev

    Sulev Contributor

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    Oh, I see! I have the seed package of the eggplant. But unfortunately I am not so good in Chinese. Anyways, can't find the name of the cultivar to search it in Google..
     

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  6. Sulev

    Sulev Contributor

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    The flower is open now, and it's yellow. So the plant is a cape gooseberry, not an eggplant. Looks very different of my other cape gooseberrys, because it's horizontal growth, but as I recall, I used two different sources for seeds, one package of seeds was purchased from the store, the other seeds I collected from some ripe berries. And those I collected myself, were not sprouting in the spring together with others. Weird thing, that my other cape goosberries, that sprouted several weeks earlier and are much larger now, have no flowers yet.
     

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  7. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    But you know which are the ones you collected and which you bought?
    I hope you'll post the fruits.
     
  8. Sulev

    Sulev Contributor

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    I know, which ones I bought. Those pots, that did not sprout, were delabeled and stored for reusing the potting mix. I delabeled those pots too soon, next time I keep labels until I reuse the mix.
    I can upload a photo of those fruits, if I'll get any, but it takes time. Here, near the 60N latitude, cape gooseberrys will usually get ripe in August. Of course specific husks should be recognizable already after some weeks.
    I have found a video of similar horizontal growth of cape goosberry:


    Here is a picture of my other cape gooseberry - it has upward growth.
     

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    Last edited: Jun 30, 2019
  9. Sulev

    Sulev Contributor

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    Those fruits are not ripe yet, but I upload a photo of them. It seems, that the plant is a Strawberry Groundcherry (Physalis pruinosa). It's funny, because both the seeds from the garden store and those ripe berries from the supermarket, from what I took some seeds for sowing, had both Physalis peruviana written on the package.
    On June 24 I pruned away 6 lowest branches of this plant (when I still thought, that this is an eggplant), to give the plant more upright form, sticked branches into pots and got 6 more Strawberry Groundcherries, that rooted wery quickly and started to bloom 2 weeks later. Those plants have even more sticked to the ground habitus.
    For now I have a (new) batch of naranjillas sprouted and can confirm, that naranjillas are not at all like the plant on my first photo here.
    So far no luck with sprouting any Pepino dulce plants, but my eggplants are blooming now. My Cape Goosberries are blooming also, but not as abundant as the Strawberry Groundcherry.
     

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    Last edited: Jul 29, 2019
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  10. Sulev

    Sulev Contributor

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    My tomatillos were sown on 19 May.
    On 29 August they look like this:
     

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  11. Sulev

    Sulev Contributor

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    I hope, that this is finally my long awaited Naranjilla.
     

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  12. Sulev

    Sulev Contributor

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    My Eggplants have produced some fruits, more is still coming.
     

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  13. Sulev

    Sulev Contributor

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    As a conclusion of the topic I confirm, that the plant, that I asked about on my initial posting here, is a Strawberry Groundcherry (Physalis pruinosa).
    Its ripe fruits look like on attached photo from 15 August.

    PS, But I did not manage to get not a single sprout from Pepino Dulce seeds.
     

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