Wonderberry vs. Black Nightshade

[Radishrain]

Okay, Luther Burbank, who spent 25 years breeding the wonderberry reportedly said they were a cross between Solanum Nigrum Guineense and Solanum villosum. So, they're part black nightshade (heavily bred by an expert plant breeder who really has done awesome stuff). See this article: https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/growing-luther-burbanks-wonderberry-bush-from-seed.58548/

Note that wonderberry is the name Luther Burbank used; sunberry is the rebranding. The article says the reverse is true. I should probably fact check my statement, though.

However, a Dave's Garden reviewer says they're rather a cross between Solanum scabrum and Solanum villosum.

[Radishrain]

Apparently, there's some doubt (on Wikipedia) that Luther Burbank hybridized Solanum retroflexum from a cross between Solanum villosum and Solanum guineense, due to the differently ploidy of each (although that's nothing chromosome doubling with a chemical couldn't overcome, and if knowledge of that existed at the time, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Luther Burbank did it). However, that would probably necessitate wonderberries to have doubled chromosomes, and I don't know if they do.

However, we still have to consider the Dave's Garden reviewer who says Solanum scabrum and Solanum villosum are instead the proper parents. Wikipedia, of course, won't mention that, since it's only into certain kinds of sources, and Wikipedia is not about ferreting out the truth (it's more about already-published content).

Luther Burbank doesn't strike me as the type of individual who would have fraudulently introduced a plant. He's a pretty big name in plant breeding. So, we definitely need to give this more than a cursory study of things.

Genetic testing should definitely be able to prove the parentage. But, of course, they need to do the genetic testing on a seed line of wonderberries that is definitely descended from Luther Burbank's, and without further hybridization.

[Radishrain]

http://bulbnrose.x10.mx/Heredity/HeiserWonderberry/HeiserWonderberry.html

This article gives pretty definitive evidence that the wonderberry and the black nightshade are different.

We also learn that wonderberries are tetraploids! I wonder if they'd have larger fruit if they were diploids.

The author concludes that they are the same species are msoba/gsoba (an African nightshade). However, it still doesn't look definitive to me. It should also be noted that Luther Burbank bred wonderberries for decades, too; so, if his selective breeding did anything, there should be some differences between the two (unless the wonderberry is the parent of msoba/gsoba); however, they are tetraploids, so breeding traits into them likely would have been more difficult than with a diploid.

The picture of the msoba/gsoba looks somewhat different to wonderberries to me (wonderberries as purchased from Trade Winds Fruit). For instance, the leaves look rather sparse (wonderberries have a lot more leaves). The leaves also look more narrow than those of wonderberries. However, the fruit set and the calyces do look simliar. The differences in leaves might be due to the plants being grown indoors (mine are cultivated outdoors).

The article is fascinating and will tell you more about wonderberries than most other sources. However, the author doesn't seem to think it's a very valuable topic (I think it is a very valuable topic), nor that the Solanum hybrid he produced in his investigation was of much interest (I disagree there, too, if it wasn't toxic, and if it had a high fruit set).