Story of the Plant

Widely grown in Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, this plant is constantly mixed up with another of its family, the Solanum Americanum. As with its Solanaceae family, most parts of the plant contain the toxins of glycoalkaloid solanine and related compounds. The unripe, green fruits are known to contain significantly higher quantities of solanine and hence are considered poisonous and should not be eaten. The ripe fruits however, have very much lower amounts of such compounds, thus are eaten by various ethnic groups of people where this plant is found.