the bed of my truck has several years worth of spilled compost, seeds, rhizobia innoculant, and it is open to the weather...and birds...and whatever...so there is a diverse population of plant life back there ( you may recall a jerusalem artichoke a few years back )...some purposeful like the strawberries...most simply random wanderers who took root...lamb's quarters, bunch grasses, pig weed...and this one...when i first noticed it in late may it looked like a spud...i was dismissive of that idea but was having trouble completely dismissing the resemblance it has to a potato...then today...
i noticed it was bloming and the blooms leave no doubt that this is a nightshade...solanum...the features of those flowers are unmistakable...here, just look around the yard...
carolina horse nettle...a nightshade...
a tomato...another nightshade whose leaves and stems are loaded with solanine...
bittersweet nightshade ( do i have to add more? )...
and as the kicker, spud blooms and buds from back there last year ( so far this year the weather has been too confusing for them in blooming terms...hot, dry...then wet and cool...they are waiting for a solid trend to evolve...they may have an issue here )...
and blooms and buds from the truck bed today...it is a nightshade...i have no doubts about that...if it is a supd ( one thing i do know is it is not horse nettle...no spines ) it has diminuative blooms compared to an in ground plant ( or even in a container )...then again, it is not in the ground, it's in my truck bed which while obviously livable, isn't exactly natural...so stunted blooms wouldn't be out of the question i imagine...and if it is a spud will there be tubers? i an supposing we will simply have to keep it watered...look for fruits...and see what the roots have to say when it finishes it season...this is not over just yet.
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