What kind of plant is this?

[fuzziebutt]

My Son and DIL live just outside of Ft. Leonardwood, Mo., and this is growing in the yard. What is it??

 

[GardenerGal]

Hard to tell without seeing the leaves more clearly, but it looks like a tomato or potato, or another member of the Solenacaea family.

 

[nosnowtn]

The Picture is kinda blurry but it looks like jimson weed or maybe ground cherry. Google those to start with. Jimson weed is in the nightshade family (potatoes/tomatoes) and can be toxic. I remember other people using it in the '70's for some kind of high, but never experienced it personally.
OK I could be wrong, sorry if I came out of deep lurkdom for this. : )

 

[conny63malies]

Looks like a cherry tomato , a very sad little cherry tomato.

 

[GardenerGal]

I'd work some organic compost in around it, keep it watered, and see what happens.

 

[nosnowtn]

I was posting at the same time as gardengal, and yes she is right about the genus name, it escaped me at the time. If it is jimson weed, you could never pull it without heavy duty industrial gloves because it has very small nasty spines.

 

[fuzziebutt]

This has thorns on it, not a type of potato or tomato. Thanks so far!!

 

[nosnowtn]

Still a solanacae member, try this, it's what we always called jimsonweed in PA growing up, and lots of morons from High School ingested it. Wonder where they are now.

.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadly_nightshade

 

[GardenerGal]

Jimson weed is prickly, and the fruits are too. Members of Solanaceae include the nightshades, eggplants, peppers, potatoes, tomatoes. daturas (including jimson weed) and mandrakes, to name some.

 

[GardenerGal]

The Picture is kinda blurry but it looks like jimson weed or maybe ground cherry. Google those to start with. Jimson weed is in the nightshade family (potatoes/tomatoes) and can be toxic. I remember other people using it in the '70's for some kind of high, but never experienced it personally.
OK I could be wrong, sorry if I came out of deep lurkdom for this. : )
n

When I was a college student, I learned about jimson weed. The plant science and botany majors all knew about it and that it's a hallucinogenic. They could make a tea of it and get weird! But too much leads to convulsions and even death, so it's definitely NOT something to fool around with. Strange how our laws forbid non-toxic marijuana, but ignore jimson weed, which grows all over the place!

BTW, I don't think the plant in quesion is jimson weed, as that has prickly fruits and the ones in the photograph are smooth and tomatoey.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Datura_stramonium_006.JPG

I do believe that whatever it is, it is in the Solanaceae family, definitely. If it weren't prickly, I'd think it was potato.