Solanum aethiopicum - Terung Iban

 Scientific name :

Solanum aethiopicum L.

Synonyms :

Lycopersicon aethipicum (L.) Mill.

Pseudocapsicum torulosum Moench

Solanum aethopicum Jacq.

Solanum aethiopicum var aculeatum Bunal

Soalnum aethiopicum var giorgii (DeWild.) Bitter

Solanum aethiopicum var inerme Dunal

Solanum aethiopicum var integrifolium (Poir.) O.E. Schulz

Solanum aethiopicum var modicelobatum Bitter

Solanum aethiopicum var paaschenianum (H.J.P.Winckl.) Bitter

Solanum ambrosiacum Vell.

Solanum aurantiacum Sendtri.

Solanum brieyi DeWild.

Solanum geminifolium Thonn.

Solanum gilo Raddi

Solanum gilo var ellipsoidum Bitter

Solanum gilo var erectifrutcum Bitter

Solanum gilo var pierreanum (Pailleux & Bois) Bitter

Solanum gilo var sparseaculeatum Bitter

Solanum gilo subsp megalacanthum Bitter

Solanum gilo subsp monteiroi (C.H.Wright) Bitter

Solanum giorgii DeWild.

Solanum elskensii DeWild.

Solanum hybridum Jacq.

Solanum indicum subsp ambifarium Bitter

Solanum interifolium Poir.

Solanum kupperi Markgr.

Solanum lobelii Ten.

Solanum lusitanicum Dunal

Solanum monteiroi C.H.Wright

Solanum naumannii Engl.

Solanum obtusifolium Willd.

Solanum olivare Pailleux & Bois

Solanum ovatifolium DeWild.

Solanum paaschenianum H.J.P. winkl.

Solanum pierreanum Paill. & Bois

Solanum poggei Dammer

Solanum pseudomelongena Ten.

Solanum racemiflorum Dunal

Solanum scabrum Jacq.

Solanum scabrum Zuccagni nom. illeg., nom. superfl.

Solanum schroideri Dammer

Solanum sparsespinosum DeWild.

Solanum subsessile DeWild.

Solanum sudanense Hammerst.

Solanum texanum Dunal

Solanum undatum var violaceum Dunal

Solanum willdenowii Roem. & Schult. nom. illeg., nom. superfl.

Solanum worsleyi W.Watson

Solanum zuccagnianum Dunal nom. illeg., nom. superfl.

Solanum zuccagnianum var allogonum Dunal

Common / Vernacular Names

African Bitter Pea-Aubergine

African Eggplant

Bitter Tomato

Chinese Scarlet Eggplant

Dayak Eggplant

Dyahatu (Senegal)

Ethiopian Eggplant

Ekitulatula (Uganda)

Garden Egg

Gilo

Jamaican Bitter Balls

Kumba

Mock Tomato

Ngbagu (Congo)

Osun (Nigeria)

Sasa (Central Africa)

Sarawak Wild Eggplant

Scarlet Eggplant

Shum

Terung Asam

Terung Dayak

Terung Iban

Terung Sarawak

Tomato-Fruit Eggplant

Tungo (Angola)

Wild Pea-Aubergine

Wild African Aubergine

Origin / Distribution

Solanum aethiopicum was domesticated from the wild Solanum anguivi Lam., via the semi-domesticated Solanum distichum Schumach. & Thonn.  Both these ancestral species occure through tropical Africa,  S. anguivi in disturbed vegetation and S. distichum in gardens.  S. aethiopicum is grown throughout tropical Africa and South America and occasionally southernmost France and Italy and in Southeast Asia.

Agroecology

Solanum aethiopicum is strictly a tropical crop species, and is intolerant of low cold temperatures and frost or extremely wet conditions.  It is intolerant of water-logging and some tolerance of irrigation-induced salinity. 

Members of the Gilo Group grow best in full sun in woodland savanna on fairly deep and well-drained soils with pH 5.5-6.8, and day temperatures of 25-35°C and night temperature of 20-27°C. 

The Kumba Group tolerates hotter conditions ( up to 45°C day temperature ) with air humidity as low as 20%, especially if irrigated.

The Shum Group prefers warm, humid conditions and will shed its leaves when it gets dry.

Edible Plant Parts and Uses

In the humid tropical zone of West Africa, S. aethiopicum is mainly cultivated for its immature fruit ( garden egg ), in the savanna area for its leaves and immature fruits ( djakattou ), and in East Africa mainly for its leaves ( nakati ).

In Africa, the immature fruit are used as cooked vegetable in stews, and sometimes eaten raw.  The leaves and shoots are used as a cooked vegetable.  The fruit are sour with a pleasant aroma. 

In Sarawak, the fruit is prepared in many ways.  It is cooked with fish, made into kerabu, or cooked in coconut milk. 

Botany

Perennial or annual deciduous shrub, up to 2m tall, often much branched;

Root system extending both vertically and laterally;

Branches and leaves with or without prickles and stellate hairs;

Leaves alternate, simple; stipules absent; petiole up to 11cm long; blade broadly ovate, 6-30cm x 4-20cm, obtuse or cordate at base, acute to obtuse at apex, slightly to deeply lobed at margin, pinnately veined; upper leaves smaller, narrower, less lobed and often subopposite;

Inflorescence a lateral, racemose cyme, 5-12 flowered ; penducle often short or even absent;

Flowers bisexual, regular, 4-10 merous ; pedicel 2-15mm long; calyx campanulate, lobes 4-10mm long; corolla stellate, free not fusd, 6-15mm long, white, sometimes pale purple; stamens inserted near the bae of the corolla tube and alternate with corolla lobes, filaments short and thick, anthers connivent, yellow, opening terminal pores; ovary superior, 2-6-celled, style as long as or slightly longer than stamens, stigma small, obtuse;

Fruit a globose to oblate, 5-15cm across, ellipsoid, ovoid or fusiform berry 2-12cm long, smooth to furrowed, immature green or white turning to red or orange, many seeded;

Seeds lenticular to reniform, flattened, 2-5mm across, pale brown or yellow.

Source : T.K.Lim, Edible Medicinal and Non-Medicinal Plants : Volume 6, Fruits, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-5628-1_36, © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht, 2013