Solanum Xanthocarpum, Thai Green Eggplant - 0.5 kg Seeds

Solanum xanthocarpum, known as Kantakari or yellow-berried nightshade (Solanum xanthocarpum), is a low, very prickly herb of the nightshade family rather than a tree. It is a celebrated Ayurvedic medicinal plant, included among the Dashamula roots, and is used for coughs, asthma, fever and respiratory ailments.

The plant spreads close to the ground with sharp yellow spines, purple flowers and round berries that ripen yellow with green marbling. It is a common weed of dry wastelands, roadsides and fallow fields throughout the plains of India and is cultivated for medicinal raw material.

• Family: Solanaceae
• Native region: tropical Asia, widespread across India
• Mature height: 0.3–0.6 m
• Growth rate: moderate

Sowing the seed: soak the small seeds in water for a few hours to improve germination, then surface-sow or lightly cover in a seed tray of moist mix and keep warm and bright. Germination takes roughly 14–21 days. Transplant the seedlings carefully when 8–10 cm tall; the crop is hardy and drought tolerant once established.