I received this questions on 9/9/09.

Ask the Expert:

Solanum Triflorum - Cutleaf Night Shade

Plant Expert Reply:

I am stumped. I have passed the picture on to some colleagues at the Wyoming Extension Service.  Hopefully, they will have an identification for us tomorrow.  I apologize for the delay in identifying this unique plant.

After sending this message to Connie, she replied back with this message:

Dear Jamie,

Attached are a few more photos of the plant.  The last photo shows the hilltop location of the plant which is in middle of a scoria rock outcrop.

One lady thought it might be a tenpetal starburst but I researched and the leaves are not at all rough but shiney and it makes no mention of the fruit that hangs along the underside of the leaves.  In fact, all of the starbursts I looked at did not have any fruits but had seeds which were not like little tomatoes.

thank you so much,

(I'm researching too still but come up with nothing).

Connie

Thanks to an email from Karen Panter, we finally have an identification. This is the email identification I received:

It's a weedy plant known as Solanum triflorum or cutleaf nightshade. It is native to North America east of the Cascades to the Great Plains. It inhabits waste places and cultivated fields as a weed.
Karen P.

Karen L. Panter, Ph.D., C.P.H.
Extension Horticulture and Specialty Crops
Plant Sciences – 3354
University of Wyoming

Thanks Karen for the identification!

Related posts:

1. Wild About Wyoming's State Flower
2. How Do I Identify What Type Of House Plant This Is?
3. Identify This Illinois Plant?
4. One Man's Wild Onion Is Another Man's Allium
5. Identify This Plant?