PLANT: Shrubs to 2.5 m tall, without tubers or rhizomes, unarmed to sparsely armed with stout prickles to 10 mm long, the young growth covered with stellate hairs.

LEAVES: alternate, simple, oblong-lanceolate to ovate, to 6.5 cm long and 4.5 cm wide; blade coriaceous, lower surface densely tomentose, the hairs stellate; margin entire to undulate; petiole to 2.5 cm long; base rounded, truncate or oblique; apex acute to rounded.

INFLORESCENCE: racemes, with fewer than 5 flowers; peduncles to 3 cm long.

FLOWERS: actinomorphic; pedicel to 1.5 cm long; calyx to 2 cm long, the lobes 2-3 times longer than the tube, unequal, linear to narrowly deltoid; corolla rotate, purple in ours, to 5.5 cm in diam., having stellate hairs along the midveins of the outer surfaces of the corolla lobes; stamens unequal, to 13 mm long, the anthers 3-4 times as long as the filaments, not adherent; style equal to or exceeding the anthers by 1-8 mm; stigma

FRUITS: to 2 cm in diam., not invested in the calyx, green with pale green to greenish grey markings when immature, dark brown when mature, erect; seeds lenticular, dark brown, shiny, minutely pitted.

NOTES: Rocky hillside, often among boulders: known only from Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Pima Co. (Fig. 2A); 500-600 m (1500-1800 ft); Mar; Son., Baja C., Mex.

REFERENCES: Chiang, F. and L.R. Landrum. Vascular Plants of Arizona: Solanaceae Part Three: Lycium. CANOTIA 5 (1): 17-26, 2009.

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Herbaceous to shrubby perennials, to 2.5 m tall, herbage unarmed to sparsely armed with stout prickles to 10 mm long, the young growth covered with stellate hairs, plants without tubers or rhizomes.

Leaves: Alternate, simple, oblong-lanceolate to ovate, to 6.5 cm long and 4.5 cm wide, thick and leathery, lower surfaces densely tomentose with stellate hairs, margins entire to undulate, petioles to 2.5 cm long, with rounded, truncate or oblique bases, tips rounded to acute.

Flowers: Light purple or lavender, star-shaped with 5 lobes in rotate corollas (actinomorphic), corollas to 5.5 cm in diameter, surfaces with stellate hairs along the midveins of the outside of the corolla lobes, calyxes to 2 cm long, with unequal, linear to narrowly deltoid lobes 2-3 times longer than the tubes, stamens unequal, to 13 mm long, anthers 3-4 times as long as the filaments, not adherent, styles equal to or exceeding the anthers by 1-8 mm, flowers borne in racemes with fewer than 5 flowers, pedicels to 1.5 cm long, peduncles to 3 cm long.

Fruits: Berries to 2 cm in diameter, not invested (surrounded) by the calyx, green with pale green to greenish grey markings when immature, dark brown when mature, erect. Seeds lenticular (lentil-like), dark brown, shiny and minutely pitted.

Ecology: Found on rocky hillside, often among boulders, from 1,500-2,000 ft (457-610 m); flowering in March.

Distribution: Arizona, Mexico.

Notes: According to CANOTIA, this plant is know in the United States only from Organ Pipe National Monument in Arizona.

Ethnobotany: Specific uses for this species are unknown, but other species in the genus have uses; infusion of leaves taken for heart trouble, decoction of root taken as a general tonic and for tuberculosis, also fruits used to prepare a permanent blue dye for tattooing.

Synonyms: None

Editor: LCrumbacher2012

Etymology: Solanum Latin for "quieting," in reference to the narcotic properties of some species, and the meaning of hindsianum is unknown, but may be named after Richard Brinsley Hinds, surgeon in the British Royal Navy, and naturalist on HMS Sulpher 1836-1842.