eggplant
Solanum melongena · Solanaceae
eggplant (Solanum melongena) is a perennial herbaceous plant in the Solanaceae family. It is introduced to North America rather than native. USDA records it as hardy in zone 8 and warmer, down to about 17°F.
At a glance
| Type | forb-herb USDA |
|---|---|
| Lifecycle | perennial USDA |
| Native status | introduced USDA |
| Mature height | 4 ft USDA |
| Light | part-shade USDA |
| Water need | high USDA |
| Growth rate | rapid USDA |
| Soil pH | 5.5–7.2 USDA |
| Hardiness zones | 8 and warmer USDA |
| Guild layer | ground-cover Derived |
| Nursery availability | Routinely Available USDA |
USDA quoted from the USDA PLANTS database · Derived computed by a fixed rule from those columns. No value on this page is estimated.
Growing conditions
It grows in partial shade. USDA rates it as having needs consistently moist ground. It is recorded on soils from pH 5.5 to 7.2 — a broad range that spans acidic through mildly alkaline ground. Its cold limit is zone 8; USDA publishes no warm-end limit, so gardeners in warmer zones should check local heat tolerance separately.
Size and growth
At maturity it reaches about 4 ft, making it a low to knee-height plant. It grows quickly, which matters when you are timing a planting around the layers above it.
Role in a guild
Ground cover. In a layered planting this is the lowest layer — it shades soil, holds moisture, and suppresses weeds. We derive the layer from the plant's growth habit and mature height using a fixed rule, so the same inputs always produce the same layer.
Tags
Related plants
Others in Solanum
- garden tomato Solanum lycopersicum
Similar role and hardiness
- rhizoma peanut Arachis hagenbeckii
- pitted beardgrass Bothriochloa pertusa
- California oatgrass Danthonia californica
- Kleberg's bluestem Dichanthium annulatum
- centipede grass Eremochloa ophiuroides
Where this data comes from
Every value on this page comes from the USDA PLANTS database record for symbol SOME, or is computed from those values by a fixed rule. Nothing here is estimated or model-generated. Where USDA publishes no value, this page omits the claim rather than filling the gap.
commercial_availability— quoted from USDA PLANTSduration— quoted from USDA PLANTSgrowth_habit— quoted from USDA PLANTSgrowth_rate— quoted from USDA PLANTSguild_role— derived by rule from USDA columnsmature_height_ft— quoted from USDA PLANTSmoisture— quoted from USDA PLANTSnative_status— quoted from USDA PLANTSnitrogen_fixer— quoted from USDA PLANTSpet_safe— quoted from USDA PLANTSph_max— quoted from USDA PLANTSph_min— quoted from USDA PLANTSshade_tolerance— quoted from USDA PLANTStemperature_min_f— quoted from USDA PLANTSzone_min— quoted from USDA PLANTS
Read our full data sources and methodology.
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