Chris Stepnitz
Jul 28, 2017 · 1 min read

Laurian, the best way to identify it is by the flowers, followed by the red berries. I’ve included a link to a page full of images from gobotany and the USDA. You can kind of educate your eye with that, and they also have images of a number of other similar plants in the Nightshade family.

If you don’t have berries or flowers, look for the smooth pale green leaves that are delicate, with a silvery underside. They are actually compound leaves, with more than one leaflet per leaf, if you know what that means. The compound leaves alternate on the main stem. The leaves can be lobed, or not. Its kind of hard to recognize by the leaves, they’re generic.

I’m betting if you suspect something is nightshade, it probably is. Even if you aren’t correct about what kind of nightshade you have, it’s likely a good idea to get rid of it.

https://gobotany.newenglandwild.org/species/solanum/dulcamara/

https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=SODU

    Chris Stepnitz

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    A software architect who loves software, science, plants, and books. To get alerted every time I post a new article, follow me on Facebook!