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Solanum peruvianum; photograph (c) Viktor, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Viktor, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-04

Solanum peruvianum L.

Peruvian nightshade

Solanaceae · Ecuador, Galápagos +2

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Solanum peruvianum, photograph (c) GREGORY ANTHONY PAUCA TANCO, some rights reserved (CC BY)Solanum peruvianum, photograph (c) Monics Paredes, some rights reserved (CC BY)Solanum peruvianum, photograph (c) Paúl Gonzáles, some rights reserved (CC BY)Solanum peruvianum, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedSolanum peruvianum, photograph (c) Ellky Arteta Paredes, some rights reserved (CC BY)Solanum peruvianum, photograph (c) Ellky Arteta Paredes, some rights reserved (CC BY) 60 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
12.9°C
Record low 11.3 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
24°C
Feb and Mar at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
84mm
No month of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
31–45DLI
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
78 mm of rain in the median year, under the rule's 120 mm, so no rainy season is read; the cooler six months are November to April (May to October at the habitat). rain and temperature rules, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Solanum peruvianum (syn. Lycopersicon peruvianum) is a species of wild tomato in the family Solanaceae. It is native to the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador, Peru, and northern Chile, and has been introduced to California. Some authorities consider it to be a member (and namesake) of a species complex, with the other members being Solanum corneliomuelleri, Solanum huaylasense, and Solanum arcanum.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Solanum peruvianum", 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

Rain at the habitat is 78 mm in the median year (across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Under 120 mm the rain rule reads no rainy season, and the growing-season rule infers nothing from it. The temperature rule reads the cooler six months as May to October. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: November to April.

Rain

78 mm in the median year at the habitat. Wettest month February at 17 mm, driest months (4 at 3 mm); 7 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 40 mm to 622 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 84 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 78 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 45 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 25, the highest 90th-percentile month 52).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 12.9 °C, the absolute minimum 11.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.0 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 13.4 °C in August (across the grid cells of the range 6.8 °C to 15.3 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 23.9 °C in February and March (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 12.9 °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: 63 to 69% 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 -358 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, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Solanum peruvianum through the yearWarmest months February and March, mean daily high 24 °C; coldest month August, mean nightly low 13.4 °C; 78 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, southern hemisphere.5°10°15°20°25°30°35°30.0° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER11.3° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 31–45RH 63–69%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 58 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 °C23 / 17–2524 / 17–2624 / 17–2622 / 17–2421 / 18–2320 / 18–2119 / 17–2119 / 17–2219 / 18–2220 / 18–2321 / 18–2322 / 18–25
Night °C18 / 10–2019 / 10–2119 / 10–2117 / 9–1915 / 7–1714 / 6–1614 / 6–1513 / 7–1514 / 8–1514 / 9–1616 / 9–1717 / 10–18
Rain mm11 / 4–10317 / 4–12614 / 3–1455 / 2–683 / 2–163 / 1–93 / 1–94 / 2–124 / 2–173 / 2–284 / 2–377 / 2–66
DLI39 / 36–4337 / 34–4236 / 33–4036 / 32–3834 / 28–3731 / 25–3533 / 26–3637 / 30–4141 / 36–4744 / 40–5145 / 42–5243 / 39–48
RH %69 / 66–7269 / 67–7268 / 66–7267 / 60–7266 / 51–7265 / 44–7264 / 43–7263 / 44–7164 / 45–7165 / 48–7066 / 52–7167 / 59–72
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 58 grid cells holding the 108 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 2145:2170 (-17.275, -71.475). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 11.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 12.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.0 °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 58 distinct grid cells holding 108 of the 108 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2145:2170 (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 -17.50_-71.250, lapse-corrected -358 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 362 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.
NativeEcuador, Galápagos, Peru, Chile North · introduced: California · 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 marker-11.794, -77.05 · in the densest population, 364 records (85% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 430 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 108 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 322 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 32 km away. 9 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 322 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 4° block of the 430 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 peruvianum, photograph 1did not loadSolanum peruvianum, photograph 2did not loadSolanum peruvianum, photograph 3did not loadSolanum peruvianum, photograph 4did not loadSolanum peruvianum, photograph 5did not loadSolanum peruvianum, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) GREGORY ANTHONY PAUCA TANCO, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Monics Paredes, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Paúl Gonzáles, some rights reserved (CC BY); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Ellky Arteta Paredes, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

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

Nicotiana paniculata Nicotiana paniculata Ornamental tobacco Photo: CC BY, ViktorFuertesimalva peruviana Fuertesimalva peruviana Peru Mallow Photo: CC BY, David F. BelmonteIsmene amancaes Ismene amancaes Amancae Photo: CC BY, Ellky Arteta ParedesNasa urens Nasa urens Loasaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedNolana humifusa Nolana humifusa Trailing Chilean-bellflower Photo: CC BY, GREGORY ANTHONY PAUCA TANCOTillandsia purpurea Tillandsia purpurea Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, GREGORY ANTHONY PAUCA TANCO

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 Antimion tomentosum; Lycopersicon commutatum; Lycopersicon dentatum; Lycopersicon glandulosum; Lycopersicon peruvianum and 11 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Solanaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Ecuador, Galápagos, Peru +1
Wild records
430 in range · 322 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 2026-10-22
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; 17 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (3 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 14 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 -17.50_-71.250, lapse-corrected -358 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
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 2026-10-22
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 26 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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