Solanum triflorum Nutt. 2026

4.Solanum triflorumNutt., Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 1: 128 (1818). Fig. 5 Type. USA. North Dakota, near Fort Mandan, [Lewis & Clark s. n.] (lectotype, designated by Hunziker (1989: 189); superfluously redesignated by Barboza et al. (2013: 260): PH 00030496). Description. Prostrate or ascending, non-sticky annuals up to 50 cm long; trichomes mostly simple, occasionally glandular; leaves green, concolourous, pinnatifid, base attenuate, lobes acutish, pubescent; each cyme of 1–3 flowers; corolla actinomorphic, white, 10–15 mm in diameter, anthers ± 3.0 mm long, equal; calyx slightly accrescent, not enveloping the fruit completely, spreading or reflexed in fruiting; fruit 9–14 mm in diameter, dark green, dull, sclereidal concretions abundant, 10–35. Distribution. Temperate and subtropical parts of the Americas; alien in Europe, South Siberia, Australia, and Africa. This species has a disjunct native distribution in temperate and subtropical parts of North and South America and is often found in anthropogenically disturbed landscapes (Knapp et al. 2023). In Europe, S. triflorum was first introduced to Belgium in 1893 with goods and raw materials from the Americas, and the species has been evaluated as a naturalized alien in that country (Verloove 2006). To date, S. triflorum has been predominantly recorded in Western and Central Europe (Särkinen et al. 2018). The first collections from Russia are known from 1943, from Omsk Oblast, South Siberia (seen in herb. TK!), where S. triflorum was introduced with crop seeds. In the 1960 s, it was also collected close to South Siberia, in North-East Kazakhstan (Pavlodar Oblast, Bayanaul district, near Karazhar vill., in kitchen gardens, 28 August 1966, Shkuratenko, MWG, as S. decipiens), but not included in the Kazakhstan flora checklist (Abdulina 1998); this historical specimen represents a new country record for Kazakhstan. Solanum triflorum started to spread widely in South Siberia in the late 20 th century and became a naturalized alien species in the Altai Republic, the Republic of Buryatia, and Irkutsk Oblast (Teryokhina 2016; Plikina and Efremov 2017; Kolesova et al. 2024). In European Russia (Fig. 2 D), the species was first collected in Moscow Oblast (Mayorov et al. 2012) and Leningrad Oblast (Tzvelev 2000), but recent findings (after 1999) are known only from the southern part of Russia (the Republic of Kalmykia and Astrakhan Oblast: Ivanov 2001; Sagalaev et al. 2012), whereas only scattered records have been reported from the North Caucasus: Chechen Republic (Shkhagapsoev et al. 2022), Republic of Dagestan (new record), and Stavropol Krai (new record). Ecology. Sands, sandy steppes, waste ground, grain-processing facilities, and roadsides. Records in Moscow and Leningrad Oblasts were made near railway tracks, whereas records in the steppe and desert zones of southern Russia are confined to other habitats (roadsides, semi-natural landscapes, especially sands). Residence status. Casual alien in the forest zone of European Russia; more frequent, naturalized, and currently expanding in the Lower Volga Region and semi-deserts of the North Caucasus. We consider S. triflorum a casual xenophyte in the north but established in natural habitats and spreading in the Lower Volga Region and the North Caucasus. Pathways of introduction. Transport – Contaminant: seed contaminant. Considering its occurrences near grain stations, railway stations, and along roads, the species can be considered a grain immigrant in the territory.