American black nightshade (Solanum americanum)

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Solanum americanum - Wikipedia
Solanum americanum - USDA PLANTS Database
Black Nightshade - Foraging Texas

Duration: Annual or short-lived perennial

Native to: tropics and subtropics of the Americas, Melanesia, New Guinea, and Australia

Edibility:  leaves, ripe (black)  berries. Leaves should be cooked. Unripe berries are toxic

Status in Yard: Limited

American black nightshade is native to Texas and much of the U.S. It comes up every year in the backyard near the gate, along with a variety of other plants for which the space was made available when I put a big pile of soil for a few months, covering the St. Augustine grass that was there when I bought the house.

As shown in the first photo, american black nightshade also started growing in a crack in my driveway on March 28, 2014, fighting for control of the space with yellow woodsorrel.

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 Flower buds forming

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American nightshade flowering on May 22, 2014. Note the green berries forming on the left stalk. They turn black when ripe.

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By May 24, 2014, a few of the berries had turned black.

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