Dave Hill wrote:
On 16 Mar, 09:29, "Jeff Layman" wrote:
Rusty_Hinge wrote:
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Three Solanum something-or-other - muricatum - melon plums?
Honeydew-shaped fruit (but smaller!) which taste of melon
(allegedly). Not potted these on yet.

Attractive flowers, too. Apparently, they are seriously poisonous
while unripe.

Thanks for that - you'd expect Spalding Bulbs to make that quite
clear...

Actually, I take it back - I haven't a clue whether it is or not.
I had got it confused with Solanum laciniatum.

I'll have to try one then...

...grone

Don't bother. Flowers are quite nice (deeper purple than many Solanum,
and fairly large), but the fruits are a waste of time. You can't eat
them until they are ready to fall off the plant (which they do and then
new plants come up everywhere), make a mess of the path, and get all
over the soles of your shoes. And the taste? Nothing to write home
about. And they are more full of seeds than tomatoes.

--
Jeff- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I've been growing them now for 4 years, very few seed in the fruit
which get to about hens egg size,
Taste nothing to rave about, but interesting.
They take very easily from cuttings.
In New Zeland they grow them as acomercial crop and have several named
varieties which I presume are much more fruitfull than the ones I
have.
David Hill

I don't think what you are growing is Solanum laciniatum. This is from
http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/...tum&CAN=LATIND,
quoting Wild Food Plants of Australia: "The fruit is up to 2cm long and
contains a large number of flat seeds". There are similar descriptions of
fruit size on other Oz websites, so if yours gets up to hens egg size, its
fruits are too big.

To be fair, I'm not certain that mine is pure S. laciniatum. Have a read
he http://www.bushfood.net/viewtopic.php?t=615 and you'll see what I
mean!

--
Jeff