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Old January 11, 2013   #19
Kierkegaard
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 26
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I have been learning about the Solanum aethiopicum/gilo, S. integrifolium, S. anguivi species complex a lot lately, because I like the spines. I have a couple seedlings under my grow light going strong. My understanding is that S. integrifolium is supposed to be a backcross between S. aethiopicum, the kind used for food in Africa and South Asia, and S. anguivi, the wild ancestor.
http://www.genres.de/fileadmin/SITE_...t.pdf#page=153
This article talks about the taxonomy on p. 153-154.


I found this ebay auction recently labelled "melanzana lunga rossa," or "long red eggplant" in Italian. The fruit is shaped like a common eggplant, but it's orange-red. What really caught my eye is that the plants look like they are about eight feet tall in pictures. I kind of doubted it was an eggplant because of that. The stems are green like an S. melongena instead of dark like an S. integrifolium though. The seller informed me that it came from Brazil but that is all I know about the provenance. I can't post the link to the auction or her pictures, but I wish you all could see it. It's the strangest thing.
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