Tomato like plant - Werribee Gorge

[mvis]

Can anyone help me ID this plant which I saw all along the river banks when doing the Werribee gorge circut yesterday.

They look like small tomatoes and the inside looks like tomato seeds as well. Are they endemic to the area?

[Moondog55]

Kangaroo Apple, edible if very ripe, but as bitter as buggery, yes part of the Solanacea

[Hallu]

Funny how they call it "apple", in the Northern Territory they also have Emu Apples... which aren't apples either.

[mvis]

Thanks for your replies!

[ebbushwalkers]

I had a similar small bush growing in my backyard in Melbourne under an orange tree. It had white flowers like the one in your photo. Not purple like most photos of what I've seen on the web for the Kangaroo Apple. Mine looked closer to photos of Solanum pseudocapsicum (Jerusalem Cherry), not at all edible. However not being a botanist, professional or amateur or even Year 10 biology , I could be mistaken.

[JustLurking]

That looks more like S. pseudocapsicum than the native Solanum spp. A highly invasive weed. It's hard to say from that one picture considering the Melbourne region has 4 indigenous Solanum spp.. However, the flowers in the photo appear, to me, to be white in colour. The indigenous Solanum spp. flower colour ranges from lilac-blue to purple, violet or mauve. I'm no botanist or expert I just have an interest in native and indigenous plants of Melbourne. I would also stay clear of eating any of the Solanum spp. (or other plants) unless you know what you're doing, these berries can be poisonous.