Wetland Nightshade (Solanum tampicense): A Threat to Wetlands in the United States

Abstract

Wetland nightshade (WNS) (Solanum tampicense Dunal) is a member of the family Solanaceae. In some texts, WNS has been referred to as Solanum houstonii Dunal, but this homonym of the 1807 S. houstonii Martyn is illegitimate according to the International Code for Botanical Nomenclature (Wunderlin et al. 1993). WNS is thought to have originated in southern Mexico, the West Indies, Guatemala, Belize (Gentry and Standley 1974), Cuba, and El Salvador (Standley 1924). It was first reported from mainland Florida in a marsh south of Punta Gorda, Charlotte County, in 1983 (Wunderlin et al. 1993). Since that time, it has been detected in Florida in Highlands (1985), DeSoto (1991), Lee (1995), and Glades (1996) counties. Recently, WNS was rediscovered on Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas (110 km west of Key West) where it was growing in a moist seep area within the partially ruined Small Magazine in Fort Jefferson. This species has been included in the plant list of the Dry Tortugas National Park since 1974 (Reimus and Robertson 1995).