bitter tomato or Ethiopian eggplant

The immature fruits of Solanum aethiopicum are used as cooked vegetables in stews, and sometimes eaten raw. The leaves and shoots are used as a cooked vegetable.

Medicinal applications include the use of roots and fruits as a carminative and sedative, and to treat colic and high blood pressure; leaf juice as a sedative to treat uterine complaints; an alcoholic extract of leaves as a sedative, anti-emetic and to treat tetanus after abortion; and crushed and macerated fruits as an enema.

Solanum aethiopicum is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental.

Although no specific mention of toxicity has been seen for this species, it belongs to a genus where many if not all the members have poisonous leaves and sometimes also the unripe fruits.