Solanum cajanumense
Encyclopedia
Solanum cajanumense is a species of plant
in the Solanaceae
family. It is found in Colombia
, Ecuador
, and Peru
.
Intolerant of heat, frost, or direct sunlight, Solanum cajanumense seems to prefer cloud forest
-type growing conditions, which limits it's future agricultural potential. As with most solanaceae, most parts of the plant are toxic, but casana produces and edible, yellow fruit similar in appearance to, but smaller than the closely related tamarillo.
An attempt at commercial cultivation was made in New Zealand
in the 1980s, though an overall lack of selective breeding, the unpredictability of fruit flavor (usually very sweet, but sometimes sour or bitter), the somewhat delicate nature of this shade-loving plant, and an attractiveness to pests like aphids, white flies and spider mites all caused those domestication efforts to fail. On rare occasions, it is encountered as a dooryard fruit tree.
Plant
Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
in the Solanaceae
Solanaceae
Solanaceae are a family of flowering plants that include a number of important agricultural crops as well as many toxic plants. The name of the family comes from the Latin Solanum "the nightshade plant", but the further etymology of that word is unclear...
family. It is found in Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, and Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
.
Intolerant of heat, frost, or direct sunlight, Solanum cajanumense seems to prefer cloud forest
Cloud forest
A cloud forest, also called a fog forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical evergreen montane moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level. Cloud forests often exhibit an abundance of mosses covering the ground and...
-type growing conditions, which limits it's future agricultural potential. As with most solanaceae, most parts of the plant are toxic, but casana produces and edible, yellow fruit similar in appearance to, but smaller than the closely related tamarillo.
An attempt at commercial cultivation was made in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
in the 1980s, though an overall lack of selective breeding, the unpredictability of fruit flavor (usually very sweet, but sometimes sour or bitter), the somewhat delicate nature of this shade-loving plant, and an attractiveness to pests like aphids, white flies and spider mites all caused those domestication efforts to fail. On rare occasions, it is encountered as a dooryard fruit tree.
Source
- World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1998. Solanum cajanumense. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 23 August 2007.