Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_solanum_capsicoides
Cockroach Berry
Solanum capsicoides
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About Cockroach Berry
A short-lived prickly shrub with broad ovate leaves divided into five to seven shallow lobes. White deeply divided flowers have pale-yellow anthers cohering in a cone. Flattened rounded fruits ripen bright orange-red, with whitish dryish flesh. Numerous flattened seeds have a conspicuous narrow marginal wing. Established wild occurrence warrants observations of occupied cover, reproductive plants and new recruits. These measurements can test persistence and spread. The reviewed accounts do not quantify an island-wide effect on Kauaʻi native vegetation.
Kauaʻi evidence
Generated media is not occurrence evidence. Proposed monitoring endpoints are not reported observations, measured effects or causal findings.
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Solanum capsicoides
- Common names
- cockroach berry · red pōpolo
- Hawaiian names
- kīkānia lei · pōpolo
- Other names
- Solanum capsicoides · cockroach berry · red pōpolo · kīkānia lei · pōpolo
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Introduced
- Conservation status
- Not yet assessed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-07
- Evidence limits
- Island-level public occurrence only. Retain prickles and winged seeds; the ripe fruit is orange-red rather than black pōpolo. Do not transfer food uses from other Solanum species.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Not yet assessed
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Shrub or subshrub; Annual or short-lived shrub to 1 m tall; numerous or scattered prickles on most parts, pale or straw-colored, the prickles to 12 mm long, sparsely pilose with simple, few-celled hairs and minute glandular hairs.
Threats and conservation
- Monitoring
- Occupied area and vegetation cover; Mature plants and new recruits; Reproductive plants and fruiting frequency. Proposed monitoring endpoints are not reported observations, measured effects or causal findings.
- Data gaps
- Current island extent and population trend · Measured local ecological effects
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not yet assessed
- Seasonal description
- A short-lived prickly shrub with broad ovate leaves divided into five to seven shallow lobes. White deeply divided flowers have pale-yellow anthers cohering in a cone. Flattened rounded fruits ripen bright orange-red, with whitish dryish flesh. Numerous flattened seeds have a conspicuous narrow marginal wing. Established wild occurrence warrants observations of occupied cover, reproductive plants and new recruits. These measurements can test persistence and spread. The reviewed accounts do not quantify an island-wide effect on Kauaʻi native vegetation.