Turkey berry

Solanum torvum — known as turkey berry, devil's fig, pea eggplant, susumber or pendejera — is an evergreen, spiny shrub in the nightshade family (Solanaceae), genus Solanum, the same genus as eggplant, tomato and potato. The plant grows 2–3 m tall (occasionally to 5 m); the stem and young branches are covered with grey stellate hairs and bear short curved prickles. The leaves are alternate, broadly ovate and unequal-sided, 8–25 cm long and 6–18 cm wide, shallowly lobed (rarely entire) with wavy margins and a prickly midrib, on a petiole 1.5–10 cm long. The bisexual white flowers have a five-lobed, wheel-shaped corolla and five stamens, and are borne in branched corymbiform cymes in the leaf axils. The fruit is a spherical berry 10–15 mm across, glossy green when young (resembling a small pea) and turning yellow when ripe, containing many flat, disc-shaped seeds 1.5–2 mm wide. Flowering and fruiting usually run from April to July.

Updated by lebachungtdh@gmail.com · 10/12/2026

The species is native to Central America and the Caribbean and has since been introduced and naturalised throughout the tropics of Africa, Asia (India, Southeast Asia, southern China) and Oceania; in Vietnam it grows wild mainly in the midland and mountainous regions. The young green berries are eaten as a vegetable in many countries: in the Caribbean they are stewed with onion, sweet pepper and fish; in Thailand added to curries; in Yunnan (China) pounded with herbs as a condiment; in India cooked as a vegetable. Because the berries are somewhat bitter they are usually well cooked. In agriculture, turkey berry is widely used as a rootstock for eggplant: grafted plants are very vigorous and tolerate root diseases, allowing the crop to continue for a second season. In Vietnamese traditional medicine the plant is pungent, slightly cooling and mildly toxic, used to invigorate the blood, resolve stasis, reduce swelling, relieve pain and suppress cough; it treats backache, injuries from falls, stomach ache, toothache, amenorrhoea and chronic cough, and the crushed plant is applied externally for cracked skin, athlete's foot and insect bites. Chemically, the fruits and other parts contain steroidal saponins (torvosides), glycoalkaloids (solasonine, solamargine) and flavonoids with anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activity studied for cytotoxicity; because of the glycoalkaloids and saponins the fruits should be thoroughly cooked and eaten in moderation.

Updated by lebachungtdh@gmail.com · 10/12/2026