Keyed Out #116 — Solanum melongena 'Rosa Bianca'

Question 1

The five petals are joined into a shallow wheel that lifts off as one piece, and the leaves are borne singly up the stem with no {stipules} at the foot of each stalk.

Accepted Answer

nightshade family

Question 2

Cut any green part and the sap runs clear but bitter with steroidal alkaloids, with no milky latex and no hot peppery reek, while the ripe fruit is eaten by the ton.

Accepted Answer

Solanaceae

Question 3

Five stout yellow {anthers} lean together into a hollow cone around the {style} and shed {pollen} only through tiny holes at their tips, so a bee must vibrate them to empty them.

Accepted Answer

Solanum

Question 4

The grey felt on young stems and leaf undersides resolves under a hand lens into hairs that branch from one point like tiny stars.

Accepted Answer

Solanum

Question 5

The ripe fruit is a soft-walled {berry} big enough to fill a hand, commonly 4 to 10 inches (10 to 25 cm) in its longest dimension and hanging one or two to a {node}.

Accepted Answer

Solanum melongena

Question 6

Each leaf is one continuous broad blade, cut only into shallow rounded {lobes} and meeting its stalk on a blunt or heart-shaped base, never split into separate {leaflets} along a central axis.

Accepted Answer

Solanum melongena