Solanum elaeagnifolium Cav.

Solanum elaeagnifolium Cav. is commonly known in Australia as silverleaf nightshade. Solanum is from the Latin solamen, 'solace' or 'comfort', in reference to the narcotic effects of some Solanum species. The species name, elaeagnifolium, is Latin for 'leaves like Elaeagnus', in reference to olive-like shrubs in the family Elaeagnaceae. 'Silverleaf' refers to the silvery appearance of the leaves and 'nightshade' is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name for nightshades, 'nihtscada' (Parsons and Cuthbertson 1992). Other vernacular names are meloncillo del campo, tomatillo, white horsenettle, bullnettle, silver-leaf horsenettle, tomato weed, sand brier, trompillo, meloncillo, revienta caballo, silver-leaf nettle, purple nightshade, white-weed, western horsenettle, desert night-shade, silverleaf bitter apple and devilbush (Boyd et al. 1984). In South Africa the plant is known by the Afrikaans name 'Satansbos' (Satan's bush), in testimony to its infamy (Wassermann et al. 1988), and in Morocco it is known as morelle jaune (Bouhache, Boulet and El Karakhi 1993).