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Solanum citrullifolium; photograph (c) Duarte Frade, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Duarte Frade, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-06-13

Solanum citrullifolium A.Braun

Watermelon nightshade; Melon-leaf nightshade; Watermelonleaf Horsenettle

Solanaceae · Texas, Mexico Northeast +1

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Solanum citrullifolium A.Braun: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, A.Br.

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Solanum citrullifolium, photograph (c) Duarte Frade, some rights reserved (CC BY)Solanum citrullifolium, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedSolanum citrullifolium, photograph (c) Oleksandr Shynder, some rights reserved (CC BY)Solanum citrullifolium, photograph (c) Oleksandr Shynder, some rights reserved (CC BY)Solanum citrullifolium, photograph (c) Oleksandr Shynder, some rights reserved (CC BY)Solanum citrullifolium, photograph (c) Oleksandr Shynder, some rights reserved (CC BY) 32 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-1.7°C
Record low -9.3 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
33°C
Jun at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
383mm
5 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
25–51DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes June to October, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Solanum citrullifolium is a species of flowering plant in the Solanaceae family. It is a nightshade referred to by the common name watermelon nightshade, as its leaves somewhat resemble those of a watermelon plant. It is a white-stemmed shrub with purple star-shaped flowers. It is native to the southern United States and it is grown in home gardens as an ornamental plant.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Solanum citrullifolium", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Solanum

Solanum is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, which include three food crops of high economic importance: the potato, the tomato and the eggplant. It is the largest genus in the nightshade family Solanaceae, comprising around 1,500 species. It also contains the so-called horse nettles, as well as numerous plants cultivated for their ornamental flowers and fruit.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Solanum", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (268 mm of 350 mm) falls in June to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 24.9 °C against a yearly mean of 20.0 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to April.

Rain

350 mm in the median year at the habitat, 268 mm of it June to October. Wettest month August at 68 mm, driest months (2 at 7 mm). Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 278 mm to 732 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 383 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 350 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 51 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 19, the highest 90th-percentile month 51).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -1.7 °C, the absolute minimum -9.3 °C, 445 frost nights in 44 years, 10.1 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 4.8 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 1.2 °C to 7.2 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 32.8 °C in June (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -1.7 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 40 to 53% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -81 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Solanum citrullifolium through the yearWarmest month June, mean daily high 33 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 4.8 °C; 350 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost38.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-9.3° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125mm rainDLI 25–51RH 40–53%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 85 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C19 / 14–2122 / 16–2425 / 20–2729 / 25–3132 / 28–3433 / 30–3532 / 28–3431 / 27–3429 / 25–3127 / 23–2823 / 18–2520 / 14–21
Night °C5 / 1–77 / 3–99 / 6–1113 / 10–1518 / 14–1921 / 17–2221 / 16–2320 / 16–2319 / 14–2014 / 11–169 / 6–116 / 2–8
Rain mm16 / 13–357 / 5–407 / 5–5412 / 8–5619 / 14–8741 / 31–9567 / 46–10468 / 42–10462 / 43–8930 / 24–6810 / 8–4811 / 9–41
DLI27 / 21–2833 / 25–3542 / 31–4348 / 38–4851 / 40–5149 / 43–5045 / 43–4743 / 41–4438 / 34–3934 / 27–3528 / 21–3125 / 19–27
RH %48 / 47–5545 / 43–5541 / 40–5440 / 38–5441 / 39–5746 / 42–5651 / 48–5553 / 49–5653 / 50–5849 / 48–5647 / 46–5649 / 47–55
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 85 grid cells holding the 105 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1259:1500 (27.025, -104.975). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -9.3 °C, 1st-percentile night -1.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 85 distinct grid cells holding 105 of the 105 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1259:1500 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 27.00_-105.000, lapse-corrected -81 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1430 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeTexas, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest · introduced: Germany, Florida · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker28.46, -105.741 · in the densest population, 120 records (75% of those in range)
Kew's description“annual” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 161 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 105 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 107 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 40 km away. 60 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 56 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 161 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Solanum citrullifolium, photograph 1did not loadSolanum citrullifolium, photograph 2did not loadSolanum citrullifolium, photograph 3did not loadSolanum citrullifolium, photograph 4did not loadSolanum citrullifolium, photograph 5did not loadSolanum citrullifolium, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Duarte Frade, some rights reserved (CC BY); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Oleksandr Shynder, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Tiquilia greggii Tiquilia greggii Plumed crinklemat Photo: CC0, Jill DeVito, PhDGrusonia grahamii Grusonia grahamii Graham's club cholla Photo: CC BY, Kevin FloydCoryphantha delaetiana Coryphantha delaetiana Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, amantedarmaninEchinocereus stramineus Echinocereus stramineus Strawberry hedgehog cactus Photo: CC BY, Kevin FloydEchinocactus horizonthalonius Echinocactus horizonthalonius Turk's head cactus Photo: CC0, author not statedPorophyllum scoparium Porophyllum scoparium Trans-Pecos poreleaf Photo: CC BY, Liliana Ramírez-Freire

Other Solanum 163 in the reference

Solanum abutiloides Solanum abutiloides Dwarf Tamarillo Photo: CC BY-SA, Greg TasneySolanum acaule Solanum acaule Solanaceae Photo: CC BY, Staci OréSolanum aculeastrum Solanum aculeastrum Goat Bitter-apple Photo: CC0, author not statedSolanum aculeatissimum Solanum aculeatissimum Dutch eggplant Photo: CC BY-SA, Tony RebeloSolanum aethiopicum Solanum aethiopicum Chinese scarlet eggplant Photo: CC BY, Diogo LuizSolanum africanum Solanum africanum Solanaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Tony Rebelo Solanum ajanhuiri Solanaceae Solanum albidum Solanum albidum Solanaceae Photo: CC BY, biped_cubSolanum aligerum Solanum aligerum Solanaceae Photo: CC BY, Juan Carlos Fonseca MataSolanum aloysiifolium Solanum aloysiifolium Solanaceae Photo: CC BY, Carla Florencia RodríguezSolanum americanum Solanum americanum American black nightshade Photo: CC BY, Frederick NunleySolanum amygdalifolium Solanum amygdalifolium Solanaceae Photo: CC BY, Holger Braun all 164 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Androcera citrullifolia; Nycterium citrullifolium. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Solanaceae
Described by
A.Braun
Native to
Texas, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest
Wild records
161 in range · 107 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF's key 8280931 is Solanum citrullifolium A.Br.; the page links Kew's Solanum citrullifolium A.Braun, and the name is cited as Kew cites it
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 29 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (25 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 4 at a herbarium; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 27.00_-105.000, lapse-corrected -81 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by its label; its IPNI identifier 818720-1 is Kew's for Solanum citrullifolium A.Braun
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 41 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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