CAT-00115
Bush tomato / desert raisin
Solanum centrale
Catalog fields
- Genus
- Solanum
- Photo
- Not recorded
- Edible
- Yes
- layout
- single
- Habitat
- Found in sandy deserts.
- Published
- Yes
- Food group
- Fruit / spice
- Latin name
- Solanum centrale
- Fruit photo
- Not recorded
- Plant title
- Bush tomato / desert raisin
- Source URLs
- https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Solanum%20centrale | https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/forestsaustralia/sofr/criterion-2/indicator-2.1d; https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn%3Alsid%3Aipni.org%3Anames%3A818645-1 Open source ↗ Open source 2 ↗ Open source 3 ↗
- Catalogue ID
- CAT-00115
- Mature width
- Not confirmed; allow spread appropriate to growth habit
- Native range
- Widespread in arid areas of W.A., N.T. and northern S.A.
- Plant family
- Solanaceae
- Supplier SKU
- Not recorded
- Listing group
- Common bush-food crop
- Mature height
- Not confirmed; habit described in brief description
- Native states
- NT, SA, WA
- Original list
- No
- Research date
- 10/10/2026
- Research notes
- Profile enriched from botanical/nursery sources. Dimensions are unpruned regional estimates where available; missing measurements remain explicit. Seasons are regional guides and vary with climate, location, cultivar and plant maturity. Drought and cultivation guidance are qualitative garden inferences, not measured ratings.
- Evidence status
- Nursery food-use source; preparation detail review pending
- Fruiting season
- Species-specific period not yet confirmed.
- Background photo
- Not recorded
- Edible component
- Fully ripe dried fruit; processed
- Flowering season
- Species-specific period not yet confirmed.
- Brief description
- Low perennial desert shrub with mauve flowers.
- Drought tolerance
- High; adapted to arid conditions.
- Preparation notes
- Only correctly identified, fully ripe prepared fruit. Unripe fruit and other plant parts are unsuitable; poisonous lookalikes occur.
- Flower description
- Purple flowers with five lobes and prominent yellow anthers.
- General cultivation
- General guidance (qualitative): Specialist dry-site trial; humid soil may be difficult and unripe fruit must not be treated as edible.
- Botanical description
- Clonal, perennial herb or undershrub to 45 cm, often sprawling, pale or rusty yellowish-green, densely pubescent with stellate hairs; prickles absent, or few and sparsely scattered on stems, 1–5 mm long. Leaves: lamina ovate-oblong, 3–6 cm long, 1–2 cm wide, sometimes larger, concolorous, entire to slightly undulate; petiole 5–15 (sometimes 30) mm long. Inflorescence 1–6-flowered, peduncle absent or to 10 mm long; rachis 5–15 mm long, sometimes to 40 mm, pedicels 6–10 mm long. Calyx 4–6 mm long; lobes triangular, 1.5–2.5 mm long. Corolla stellate, 15–25 mm diam., pale or deep purple. Anthers 4.5–6.5 mm long. Berry globular, 10–15 mm diam., yellow, drying brown and raisin-like in appearance. Seeds 2–4 mm long, pale yellow or light brown.
- Other botanical names
- Not recorded
- Attracts birds and bugs
- Native bees and insects visit flowers; canopy shelters birds.
- Flora of Australia profile
- https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Solanum%20centrale Open source ↗
- Fruit type and description
- Small berries; only correctly identified fully ripe/dried fruit is a documented food.
- Flora of Australia citation
- D.E. Symon, R.W. Purdie. Solanum centrale. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Canberra. https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Solanum%20centrale (accessed 2026-10-15). Copyright Commonwealth of Australia; CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). HTML formatting removed; species-level context added where noted. Open source ↗ Open source 2 ↗
- Flora of Australia retrieved
- 15/10/2026