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Potato family (Solanaceae)
Vinelike semi-shrub with creeping rhizome. Stem woody below, herbaceous above, prostrate or climbing, of length 30-200 cm. Leaves arranged helically, stalked, entire, ovate and pointed below, variable in shape above, often with 1-2 extra lobes at base. Flowers violet in colour, 10-25 per loose umbel. Stamens gold-yellow, fused into tube around pistil. Berries red, hanging, ovate in shape and up to 10 mm long. Flowers Jun.-Aug.
Grows on moist to wet, nutrient-rich or moderately-fertile soils on banks or shores of waters, in alder or riparian forest. Simultaneously POISONOUS and with medicinal applications.
Descriptions devised by the team at the Independent Department of Forest Botany, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, i.e. L. Witkowska-Żuk, K. Marciszewska, W. Ciurzycki, A. Obidziński and P. Zaniewski.
