You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants!
Check out the DG homepage for a brief overview of what you'll find in this gardening mega-site.
Login
If you don't have an account yet, visit the registration page to sign up.
Cow's Udder, Nipple Fruit, Mackaw Bush Solanum mammosum
The fruits are ripe when they are a dark yellow or orange. The plant is extremely spiny, so wear gloves or use caution when handling. The brightly colored fruits are poisonous. Tintona is used in some treatments such as skin ailments that call for poison. It is also used for luck and spiritual matters. Before soap was common in villages, the juice was used as a detergent to wash clothes.
Yeah, I first saw the plant on Victory Garden last year. They were taping a botanical garden in Chile and showed this plant. I was awed, so I began a long search for seeds, so I could grow it. I finally found seeds from a fellow in Australia and we did a swap & I started 8 plants. Two I gave away & still have 6, which are now in the greenhouse. I wish I had planted them outside sooner than I did because I got lots of flowers, but no fruit. The one I gave to a friend of mine developed fruit. I am anxiously awaiting til the fruit is ripe & can get some more seeds to try next year, but I am trying to overwinter the plants in the greenhouse until next May. If I can do that, I will plant them outside & will have a better chance of their flowering & getting fruit. By the way, as in all nightshades, all parts of the plant are poisonous.
