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BATS
AND TURKEYBERRIES |
The turkeyberry,(Solanum torvum) a pea eggplant, is known to be seed dispersed by five species of bats in the Old World Tropics and three species of bats in the New World Tropics.
Yellow epauletted bat (Sturnia lilium) carrying a Solanum berry
Despite being thick-skinned and bitter, the turkeyberry is savoured in curries. In Thailand turkeyberries are eaten raw with nam prik, a spicy paste served with fish, rice, poultry, vegetables and meat.
Turkeyberry, flower and fruit
Photograph courtesy of Forest & Kim Starr (USGS)
Plants in the genus, Solanum, are strong pioneering and colonizing plants. Where man has left vast tracts of tropical land denuded by logging and burning, solanum seeds, dropped by birds or bats, germinate and grow quickly despite drought and poor soils. The plants soon provide a sturdy perch for birds who deposit seeds of less hardy plant species which will prosper in the shade provided by a Solanum plant.
Turkeyberry plant, Hawaii
Photograph courtesy of Forest & Kim Starr (USGS)
Human beings find relief from an multiplicy of medical problems when provided with root and leaf preparations from Solanum torvum. Cramps, coughs and stomach pains disappear, injuries improve and menstrual periods are restored.
Turkeyberry thicket, Hawaii
Photograph courtesy of Forest & Kim Starr (USGS)
Man has introduced Solanum species, including the turkeyberry, to the United States. It has thrived, away from its natural enemies in Africa and Asia. In Florida turkeyberry plants have colonized forest clearings, pastures, roadsides and waste areas. Its dense unhampered growth has swallowed pastures, depriving domestic animals of forage.
In this scenario the turkeyberry and its relatives are heartily disliked. Their positive medical, culinary and colonizing attributes in other parts of the world are forgotten. Instead of being recognized as a source of tasty fruit, pain-relieving leaves and roots and a restorative of man-degraded land they are identified as noxious weeds, prohibited plants and plant pests. Shipments of turkeyberries into the United States for culinary use, if detected, are confiscated.
The turkeyberry plant has joined a host of man-relocated plants, animals, insects, fish and shellfish who are persecuted pariahs in their non-native surroundings.
Bibliography:
Customs and Border Protection Today, October-November 2003; http://www.cbp.gov/xp/CustomsToday/2003/November/bushMeat.xml
Fujita, M.S. 1991. Flying Fox (Chiroptera:Pteropodidae) Pollination, Seed Dispersal, and Economic Importance: A Tabular Summary of Current Knowledge, Resource Publication No. 2, Bat Conservation International
Lobova, Tatyana, Mori, Scott A., (2004) Epizoochorous dispersal by bats in French Guiana, Journal of Tropical Ecology, 20:581-582.
New York Botanical Gardens Bat/Plant Databases http://www.nybg.org/botany/tlobova/mori/batsplants/database/dbase_main.htm
Solanum torvum, Sw., Turkey berry http://www.fs.fed.us/global/iitf/pdf/shrubs/Solanum%20torvum.pdf\
Van Driesche, R. et al. Biological Control of Invasive Plants in the Eastern United States, 2002; USDA Forest Service Publication FHTET-2002-04, 413 p.
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PLANT Family:Solanaceae (The Potato Family, including tomatoes, aubergines
or eggplants, green and red peppers)
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BATS Buettikoferi's Epauletted Bat (Epomops buettikoferi)
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Written by ML Alley-Crosby who thanks Dr. Merlin D. Tuttle, Founder and President of Bat Conservation International, Austin, Texas, for permission to use his photograph of a yellow epauletted bat (Sturnia lilium) carrying a Solanum berry as guidance for the drawing. http://www.batcon.org
Thanks also to Forest and Kim Starr for access to their immense photographic library of plants growing in Hawaii.
http://www.hear.org/starr/hiplants/images/index.html
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