364T.K. Lim, Edible Medicinal and Non-Medicinal Plants: Volume 6, Fruits,DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-5628-1_42, © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

Scienti fi c Name

Solanum mammosum L.

Synonyms

Solanum globiferum Dunal, Solanum mammosis-sium Ram. Goyena, Solanum mammosum var. corniculum Ridl., Solanum platanifolium Sims, Solanum villosissimum Zuccagni.

Family

Solanaceae

Common/English Names

Apple Of Sodom, Breastberry, Cow’s Udder, Fox Face, Love Apple, Macaw Bush, Macawbush, Mickey Mouse Plant, Nipple Fruit, Nipple Nightshade, Pigs Ears, Tit Fruit, Tit Plant, Titty Fruit, Turkey Berry, Zombie Fruit.

Vernacular Names

Bolivia : Ku’bu’re, Pimento, Popatoa, Tetilla, Toro Torito, Vaca Vaquita; Brazil : Jurubeba-Do-Pará, Peito-De-Moça ( Portuguese );

Brunei : Teron Susu; Chinese : Huang Jin Guo, Niu Tou Qie, Ru Qie, Wu Dai Tong Tang, Wu Jiao Qie, Wu Zhi Qie; Columbia : Hoja De Lun, Ku-Ku-Na, Lulo De Perro, Lulo De Perro Tetudo, Lulu De Teta, Tetilla; Costa Rica : Pichichio, Pichichío, Pichichinchivo; Dominican Republic : Berenjena De Gallina, Berenjena Del Teta; Ecuador : Mutondo Puga, Atallpajanbina, Chucho Muyo, Chuchularan ( Quichua ), Cura Gallinas, Estacudo, Jajapa, Jarjapa De Montana, Piñon, Regargar, Rejalgar, Teta De Vaca; El Salvador : Chichimosa, Chichita; French : Poire De Bachelier, Pomme A Chauve-Souris, Pomme D’mour, Pomme Teton, Pomme Zombie, Tétons De Jeune Fille, Morelle À Fruit Ornemental, Morelle Molle; German : Euter-Nachtschatten, Zitzen Nachtschatten; Guadeloupe : Pomme Poison, Pomme Zombie; Guatemala : Chicha, Chichigua, Kekchi Rantu, Tetereta; Guyana : Jumby Bubby, Tuwawa ( Wapishana ); Haiti : Pomme D’amour, Tetan, Tete Jeune Fille; Honduras : Chichigua, Chichihua; Indonesia : Terung Susu, Tioeng Londo ( Sumatra ); Jamaica : Young Girls Breast; Japanese : Kanaria Nasu; Malaysia : Terung Asam, Terung Balanda, Terung Puyuh, Terung Susu, Terung Susu Kambing

Solanum mammosum

365Solanum mammosum

( Peninsular ), Terong Semangat ( Bajau, Sabah ), Terung Tujang ( Iban, Sarawak ); Mexico : Berenjena, Kan’tzu; New Guinea : Sigalu; Nicaragua : Chichigua; Panama : Moza, Tetilla, Uña De Gato, Veninillo Tetón; Peru : Cocona Venenose, Teta De Vaca, Tintuma, Vaca Chucho; Philippines : Tagotong ( Samar-Leyte Bisaya ), Berenjenita Peluda ( Spanish ) , Tagotong, Talong Susu, Utong ( Tagalog ); Puerto Rico : Berengena Cimarrona, Pecho De Donceilla; Samoan : Lapiti, Lau Lau Faiva: Spanish : Berenjena De Cucarachas, Berenjena De Gallina, Berenjena De Teta, Berenjenade Marimbo, Gurito, Tetilla,; Surinam : Baladona, Nkjoeng Wintje Bobi, Njoenwenkebobi, Njoen-Wenke-Bobi, Nyun Wentje Bobi ( Creole ), Terong Soesoe ( Javan) ; Turkish : Sofur; Venezuela : Tuna, Uña De Gato; Vietnamese : Cà Vú Dê; Zaire : Babua, Gbangalangala.

Origin/Distribution

A tropical species indigenous to northern South America and possibly also the Caribbean. It is com-mon in Central America – Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and in an arc around the Amazon basin from north-western Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Columbia, Venezuela, Guyana and Surinam in the Guyanas, rare and spo-radic in the Amazon valley and east coast of Brazil. It has been introduced elsewhere and is commonly grown in east and south east Asia but rare in Africa.

Agroecology

In its native range, it occurs in thickets, grass-lands, waste places along roadsides and cultivated land, mostly at low altitude of 100–200 but may reach 1,800 m. It prefers full sun and well-drained, moist soil.

Edible Plant Parts and Uses

Amongst 28 samples of 25 indigenous vegetable species in AVRDC project, the top three vegeta-bles based on eating values were Colocasia escu-lenta and fruit of Lagenaria siceraria and Solanum mammosum ; while the worst three were fruit of Solanum indicum and Solanum melongena , and young shoots of Hibiscus sabdariffa ( Kuo 2002 ) . The fruit makes an excellent vegetable and young leaves are also eaten as vegetables (Stuart 2010 ) .

Botany

An annual or short-lived perennial, woody shrub to 1.5 m high villous with simple and occasion-ally stellate eglandular hairs and spiny with 10–15 mm straight, fl at or curved, straw-coloured spines on stems and branches. Stem is branched, brownish or purplish-green and pilose. Leaves mostly paired; petiole 3–8 cm. Lamina broadly ovate or suborbicular in outline, 5–12 by 5–10 cm, 5-7-lobed, villous, armed on major veins with needle-like spines 0.8–2 cm, base cordate, apex acute or obtuse. In fl orescences extra-axillary, sub-sessile cyme, 3- or 4- fl owered. Pedicel 5–10 mm. Calyx campanulate, lobes pubescent, ovate-lanceolate, 5–6 mm. Corolla pale purple stellate, deeply incised, 2.5–3.2 cm in diameter, lobes oblong-lanceolate, pilose abaxially. Stamens subequal; fi laments 1 mm long, anthers narrow, corniculate, lanceolate, 7–10 mm. Style short, 3 mm. Berry pale green turning to glossy yellow or glossy orange with age, pyriform, 4.5–7 long by 3–4 cm across, with 2–5 papillate protu-berances at the base and extended nipple at the tip; mesocarp white and spongy. Seeds dark brown to purplish red, punctate, somewhat com-pressed, 3–4 mm in diameter (Plate s 1 – 3 ).

Nutritive/Medicinal Properties

Solanum mammosum fruit was reported to have the following nutrient value per 100 g edible portion: 7 g dry matter, 0.78 g fi bre, 3.23 g

366 Solanaceae

sugar, 0.96 g protein, 0.05 mg vitamin C, 4 mg β -carotene, 7 mg Ca, 0.30 mg (Kuo 2002 ) . The fruit also contained trigonelline, choline, vita-mins A, B, and C besides fat and protein (DeFilipps et al. 2004 ) .

Steroidal alkaloids and saponins were found as the major constituents of S. mammosum fruit (Seelkopf 1968 ; Gallo and Valeri 1954 ; Alzérreca and Hart 1982 ; Tran and Puong 2001 ; Wong 2008 ) . Wong ( 2008 ) isolated the follow-ing saponins from S. mammosum fruit: solamar-gine, solasonine, protodioscin, pseudoproto dioscin and inidioside D.

Solanum mammosum fruit was found to con-tain solasodine (0.2–1.2% dry weight); leaves were devoid of steroidal alkaloids ( Telek et al. 1977 ) . Solasodine content was found to increase from green fruit to mature yellow fruit. Other ste-roidal glycoalkaloids present were solasonine, solarmargine and β -solarmarginine (Tarigan 1980 ) . The fruit was also reported to contain dios-genin and phytosterols (Sawariam 1986 ) . S. mam-mosum cultures also produced sterols such as cholesterol, sitosterol, stigmasterol and campes-terol (Indrayanto and Sutarjadi 1986 ; Guo 2009 ) .

Some biotransformation products, p -aminoben-zoic acid 7- O - β -D-glucopyranosyl ester, N-acetyl p -aminobenzoic acid 7- O - β -D-glucopyranosyl ester, o -aminobenzoic acid 7- O - β -D-( β -1,6- O -D-glucopyranosyl)glucopyranosyl ester and o -aminobenzoic acid 7- O - β -D-glucopyranosyl ester were isolated from cell suspension cultures of Solanum mammosum following administration of p -aminobenzoic acid, N-acetyl p -aminoben-zoic acid or o -aminobenzoic acid respectively (Syahrani et al. 1999 ) . N-acetyl p -aminobenzoic acid and N-formyl p -aminobenzoic acid were also identi fi ed as cell suspension metabolites of p -aminobenzoic acid. The maximum production of o -aminobenzoic acid-7- O - β -D-( β -1,6- O -D-glucopyranosyl)-glucopyranosyl ester was 31.8% on dry weight basis. Aminobenzoic acid, β -D-glucopyranosyl-L- O -aminobenzoate, and O - β -D-glucopyranosyl-(1→6)- O - β -D-glucopyranosyl-L- O -aminobenzoate was extracted from cell-suspension cultures of Solanum mammosum (Indrayanto et al. 1999 ) . Cell suspension cultures of Solanum mammosum cultured in modi fi ed Murashige & Skoog media could synthesize o -aminobenzoic acid-7- O - β -D-( β -1,6- O -D-gluco-pyranosyl)-glucopyranosyl ester from o -amino benzoic acid with a yield of about 20% dry weight in 7 days (Hartanti et al. 2002 ) .

Plate 1 Fruit, spiny leaves and spiny stems

Plate 2 Fruit with prominent papillate protuberances at the base

Plate 3 Extended nipple at the fruit tip

367Solanum mammosum

Some reported pharmacological properties of the plant and its phytochemicals include:

Antioxidant Activity

Wetwitayaklung and Phaechamud ( 2011 ) reported low antioxidant activity of S. mammo-sum fruit with IC

50 of 1706.95 μ g TEAC (Trolox

equivalent antioxidant capacity) and total pheno-lic content of 3.08 g/100 g crude extract gallic acid. There was weak correlation between total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity.

Anticancer Activity

Studies showed that the Solanum glycoalkaloid solamargine induce cell death of human hepa-toma cells (Hep3B) by apoptosis and involved up-regulation of both tumour necrosis factor receptor (TNFR)-I and -II on Hep3B cells (Kuo et al. 2000 ) . Indioside D, a furostanol glycoside isolated from Solanum mammosum , was found to possess antiproliferative activity toward a panel of human cancer cell lines (Wong et al. 2008 ) . The results suggested that indioside D induced apoptosis in HeLa cells via both intrinsic and extrinsic cell death pathways. Of the saponins isolated from the fruit, solamargine exhibited highest cytotoxicity towards HeLa cell line fol-lowed by inidioside D, protodioscin, solasonine and pseudoprotodioscin (Wong 2008 ) .

Antimalarial Activity

In a study of 46 different species screened for antimalarial activity, Solanum mammosum fruit extract was one of those found moderately active (Muñoz et al. 2000 ) . S. mammosum fruit is used for scabies by Mosetene Indians in Bolivia.

Molluscicidal Activity

Both the steroidal glycoalkaloid mixture obtained from Solanum mammosum fruits (solasonine 1

and solamargine 2) and the stereoisomeric glycosidic alkaloid tomatine 3 were toxic at 10 and 25 ppm to Lymnaea cubensis and Biomphalaria glabratus , respectively (Alzérreca and Hart 1982 ) . Their aglycones solasodine 4 and tomatidine 5 showed no toxicity to either mol-lusc. Preliminary structure-activity correlations indicated that the molluscicidal properties depended on the type of aglycones and on the glycoside bond. A common molecular structure in molluscicidal spirosolane and spirostane gly-cosides was recognized.

Traditional Medicinal Uses

Various parts of the plant have been used in tradi-tional ethnomedicine in the tropics (Burkill 1966 ; Grieve 1971 ; Muñoz et al. 2000 ; Wiart 2000 ; Herbal Medicine Research Center 2002 ; DeFilipps et al. 2004 ; Chai 2006 ; Stuart 2010 ; Crommett 2011 ) .

Fruit is used to treat restlessness and irritabil-ity. In the Philippines, the fruit is employed for phthisis, cough and loss of appetite. Fruit is cool-ing, and when added with vinegar, is used as a poultice for abscesses and cracked nipples; burnt fruit is used for liver problems. The peduncle of the fruit when burnt used for piles, toothache and intestinal haemorrhages. Fruit juice mixed with pounded leaves and roots is used for skin ail-ments. A root decoction is ingested for asthma and as general stimulant. Roots are boiled with sour milk and grain porridge and employed to treat syphilis Roots, dried stalk, and leaves are employed in a decoction for washing sores. Leaves are considered anodyne and narcotic and used for haemorrhoids. A leaf infusion or decoc-tion is used for stomach ailments. Seeds are used as stimulant but may cause dyspepsia and constipation.

Solanum torvum and S. mammosum leaf juices are rubbed onto af fl icted areas for athlete’s foot in Belize. In Surinam, the mashed fruit is mixed with tobacco or Mansoa alliacea and rubbed on the feet to ward off sand fl ies. The Kofan people of Columbia and Ecuador use the plant as an insect repellant especially against cockroaches.

368 Solanaceae

In Dominican Republic, extracts of leaf and fruit are used for mouth infections, skin wounds and taken, to lose weight and to lower high blood pressure and high cholesterol. In Peninsular Malaysia, the plant is used to heal caterpillar rash and the Malays drink the leaf sap to treat fever. In Sarawak, fresh fruit juice is used to treat sore eyes in children. In Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, the plant is used to induce narcosis.

Other Uses

It is popularly grown as an ornamental plant in gardens. In Taiwan and Hong Kong, the decora-tive foliage and fruit are used in religious and fes-tival fl oral arrangements. Chinese in Asia would use the fruits to build an arti fi cial tree during the Chinese Lunar New Year festive season because of its auspicious golden coloured fruit which symbolizes wealth.

Comments

The plant is readily grown from seeds and stem cuttings.

Selected References

Alzérreca A, Hart G (1982) Molluscicidal steroid glycoal-kaloids possessing stereoisomeric spirosolane struc-tures. Toxicol Lett 12(2–3):151–155

Burkill IH (1966) A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula, Revised reprint, 2 vols. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, vol 1 (A–H), pp 1–1240, vol 2 (I–Z), pp 1241–2444

Chai PPK (2006) Medicinal plants of Sarawak. Lee Ming Press, Kuching, 212 pp

Crommett MK (2011) Dominican medicinal plant inven-tory. http://www.prhdr.org/docs/Dominican%20Medicinal%20Plants.pdf

DeFilipps RA, Maina SL, Crepin J (2004) Medicinal plants of Guianas (Guyana, Surinam, French Guiana). Department of Botany, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC

Gallo P, Valeri H (1954) The antibiotic activity of some extracts of Solanum mammosum , Cassia occidentalis , and Cecropia species. Rev Med Vet Parasitol 12:119–124

Grieve M (1971) A modern herbal. Penguin, 2 vols. Dover publications, New York, 919 pp

Guo TK (2009) The accumulation of copper ions in bio-mass, its in fl uence on the growth and production of sterols and steroid alkaloid (Solasodine) in shoot cultures of Solanum mammosum . In: Second interna-tional conference and workshops on basic and applied sciences (2nd ICOWOBAS) regional annual funda-mental science seminar 2009 (RAFSS 2009), Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Hartanti L, Widjaja I, Syahrani A, Indrayanto G (2002) High yield formation of o -aminobenzoic acid-7- O -beta-D-(beta-1,6- O -d-glucopyranosyl)-glucopyrano-syl ester in cell suspension cultures of Solanum mammosum . J Asian Nat Prod Res 4(1):63–67

Herbal Medicine Research Center (2002) Compendium of medicinal plants used in Malaysia. Vol 1 & 2. Institute for Medical Research, Kuala Lumpur

Indrayanto G, Sutarjadi I (1986) Sterols in callus of Solanum mammosum . Planta Med (5):413

Indrayanto G, Margalin H, Ratnasari E, Syahrani A (1999) Densitometric determination of o -aminobenzoic acid, beta-D-glucopyranosyl-1- o -aminobenzoate, and O - β -D-glucopyranosyl-(1 → 6)- O - β -D-glucopyranosyl-1- o -aminobenzoate in cell-suspension cultures of Solanum mammosum . J Planar Chromatogr – Mod TLC 12:456–460

Kuo G (2002) Project 9. Collaborative research and net-works for vegetable production. AVRDC Progress Report 2002, pp 116–122

Kuo KW, Hsu SH, Li YP, Lin WL, Liu LF, Chang LC, Lin CC, Lin CN, Sheu HM (2000) Anticancer activity evaluation of the Solanum glycoalkaloid solamargine: triggering apoptosis in human hepatoma cells. Biochem Pharmacol 60(12):1865–1873

Muñoz V, Sauvain M, Bourdy G, Callapa J, Rojas I, Vargas L, Tae A, Deharo E (2000) The search for natural bio-active compounds through a multidisciplinary approach in Bolivia. Part II. Antimalarial activity of some plants used by Mosetene Indians. J Ethnopharmacol 69(2):139–155

Nee M (1991) Synopsis of Solanum section Acanthophora : a group of interest for glycoalkaloids. In: Hawkes JG, Lester RN, Nee M, Estrada N (eds) Solanaceae III: taxonomy, chemistry, evolution. Kew Publishing, London, 492 pp

Nee M (2001) Synopsis of Solanum in the New World. In: Solanaceae IV: advances in biology and utilization. Kew Publishing, London, 494 pp

Nee M (2006) Solanum mamosum L. Description based on taxon concept by Nee, M. pages 89–90 in Nee, M. 1993. Solanaceae II. Flora de Veracruz 72:1–158. Instituto de Ecología, Xalapa, Veracruz. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/research/projects/solanaceaesource/taxonomy/description-detail.jsp?taxa=3697

Porcher MH et al (1995–2020) Searchable world wide web multilingual multiscript plant name database. Published by The University of Melbourne. Australia. http://www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au/Sorting/Frontpage.html

369Solanum mammosum

Sawariam I (1986) Studi kandungan buah Solanum mammosum L, Skripsi (BSc Thesis), Fakultas Farmasi Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya

Seelkopf C (1968) Alkaloid glycosides of the fruit of Solanum mammosum L. Arch Pharm Ber Dtsch Pharm Ges 301(2):111–114 (In German)

Stuart GU (2010) Philippine alternative medicine. Manual of some Philippine medicinal plants. http://www.stu-artxchange.org/OtherHerbals.html

Syahrani A, Ratnasari E, Indrayanto G, Wilkins AL (1999) Biotransformation of o - and p -aminobenzoic acids and N-acetyl p -aminobenzoic acid by cell suspension cultures of Solanum mammosum . Phytochemistry 51(5):615–620

Tarigan P (1980) Sapogenin steroid. Perbit Alumni, Bandung, pp 96–103

Telek L, Delpin H, Cabanillas E (1977) Solanum mam-mosum as a source of solasodine in the lowland trop-ics. Econ Bot 31(2):120–128

Tran VT, Puong TT (2001) Study on components of Solanum mammosum L. Tap Chi Duoc Hoc 8:10–12

Wetwitayaklung P, Phaechamud T (2011) Antioxidant activ-ities and phenolic content of Solanum and Capsicum sp. Res J Pharm Biol Chem Sci 2(2):146–154

Wiart C (2000) Medicinal plants of Southeast Asia. Pelanduk Publications, K. Lumpur, 199 pp

Wong CC (2008) Isolation of saponins from Solanum mammosum and characterization of their anticancer activity by proteonomics. M. Phil thesis, University of Hong Kong

Wong CC, Wang Y, Cheng KW, Chiu JF, He QY, Chen F (2008) Comparative proteomic analysis of indioside D-triggered cell death in HeLa cells. J Proteome Res 7(5):2050–2058

Zhang ZY, Lu AM, D’Arcy WG (1994) Solanaceae A. L. Jussieu. In: Wu ZY, Raven PH, Hong DY (eds) Flora of China, vol 17 (Verbenaceae through Solanaceae). Science Press/Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing/St. Louis