Solanum elaeagnifolium Cav.

6.Solanum elaeagnifoliumCav., Icon. 3: 22 (1795). Fig. 8 Type. Cultivated in Madrid from “ America calidiore ” [“ del viaje de los españoles alrededor del mundo, Cult. en el R. J. Bot. 1793 ”], Anonymous s. n.. (lectotype, designated by Knapp (2007: 198): MA- 476348-2; isolectotype: MA- 476348-1). Description. Rhizomatous subshrub up to 50 cm tall, ± prickly, especially in lower parts of the stem, covered with lepidote (peltate) and stellate hairs; leaves grey from both sides, oblong or elliptic, entire, crenate, or sinuate; each cyme of 4–6 flowers; corolla actinomorphic, usually violet or purple, rarely white, 25–35 mm in diameter; all anthers ± equal, 6–10 mm long; fruit 7–12 mm in diameter, exserted, leathery, orange with sticky pulp, dull, sclereidal concretions absent. Distribution. This species is native to South America and alien in many warm temperate and subtropical regions of the world. The earliest European records date back to the late 18 th century in Spain and the mid- 19 th century in France, but its spread to the Mediterranean area probably began in the mid- 20 th century (Uludag et al. 2016; see also the discussion in Knapp et al. 2017). To date, S. elaeagnifolium is considered an invasive species inhabiting disturbed places across the Mediterranean area (e. g., Sforza and Jones 2007; Brunel 2011; Krigas et al. 2023). Recent documented records of the species close to Russia have been reported from Turkey (İlçim and Behçet 2007) and Azerbaijan (Zernov and Mirzayeva 2016). In Azerbaijan, S. elaeagnifolium has invaded semi-deserts with dominant native species such as Caroxylon dendroides (Pall.) Tzvelev, Alhagi pseudalhagi (M. Bieb.) Desv., and Artemisia fragrans Willd. (V. Karimov in herb. LE). The invasion of S. elaeagnifolium in Azerbaijan, as well as a recent observation in Georgia (iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/179191722), makes further expansion into the plains of the Republic of Dagestan (Russia) predictable. To date, S. elaeagnifolium has been recorded in the North Caucasus (Chechen Republic; Shkhagapsoev et al. 2022), but we have not seen the relevant herbarium specimens. Its only records in European Russia (Fig. 7 B) are known from the Udmurt Republic, where the species was found in 1985 and 1989 in the territory of grain-processing facilities (Tuganaev and Puzyryov 1988; Baranova and Puzyryov 2012). These records are linked with the large-scale late Soviet import of North American grain, which was responsible for the casual introduction of several exotic alien plants and, apparently, the mass invasion of the noxious weed Bidens frondosa L. (Sennikov and Lazkov 2022). Ecology. Waste ground, roadsides, railroad beds, grain-processing facilities. Residence status. Casual alien in Central Russia. In the Udmurt Republic, S. elaeagnifolium is not able to survive in the temperate climate with cold winters. Pathways of introduction. Transport – Contaminant: seed contaminant. The species is a typical grain immigrant in Russia.