Kangaroo Apple (Solanum aviculare) 

​Family: Solanaceae

Habitat: Forest margins, woodland edges

Description and uses:

Kangaroo Apple (Solanum aviculare) is one of the amazing Solanum family which gives us so much of our food and lots of our medicines. 

It’s a bushy plant that grows to around 3 metres tall down this way but may be bigger elsewhere. 

Kangaroo Apple has deeply lobed or toothed leaves and purple flowers in the familiar Solanum shape. 

The most interesting part of a Kangaroo Apple plant is the orange fruit. 

Note: only eat the ripe, orange fruit. Unripe or green ones will get you pretty sick. 

When the fruit is orange it’s ready to eat. I have been recommended allowing it to ripen to the point where the skin splits before eating too. 

Besides being a tasty bushfoods, Kangaroo Apple leaves and fruit have some interesting medicinal properties. 

They leaves and unripe fruit contain a toxic chemical called Solsadine which is used for the production of cortisone based contraceptives, so don’t take it when you are pregnant or trying to conceive. That explains one traditional use – contraception. 

There are also compounds in the plant that act as corticosteroids and one is a building block for cortisone production. 

One traditional use was to crush the fruit and apply the pulp as a poultice for inflammations, particularly in joints. 

Reminder: only eat the ripe, orange fruit. Unripe or green ones will get you pretty sick.