When my friend Vindhya planted her vegetable garden in Vancouver earlier this year, she couldn’t have known that, come mid- summer, nestled among the thriving Solanaceae – tomatoes, chilli peppers, and eggplants – another member of the family, Solanum nigrum– had invited itself to the party, and was popping up all over the plot.
Commonly known as black nightshade, there’s a good deal of confusion regarding the edibility and potential toxicity of this, and related plants. (If in doubt, weed it out! Please read and verify, before eating that weed! )
Many gardeners here might have just pulled the interlopers up without a second thought. Vindhya, on the other hand, was delighted to recognise the weed as a popular variety of potherb that she is very familiar with from gardens and hedgerows in Coorg, where, it is known as kaaké thopp (crow leaves). I’m not sure why. Perhaps it’s because of the deep purple-black shade of the ripe fruit that’s reminiscent of the sheen on a crow’s feathers.