Carolina Horsenettle Fruit

The fruit of Carolina Horsenettle resembles cherry tomatoes - immature fruit is dark green with stripes; as it matures, the fruit turns yellow and wrinkles.

All parts of this plant are poisonous to varying degrees due to the presence of solanine, which is a toxic alkaloid. Ingesting any part of the plant can cause fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. However, ingesting the fruit can cause severe abdominal pain, circulatory and respiratory depression, and death. I spotted lots of these fruits in various states of decay throughout a meadow. A good clue that a fruit may be toxic is when they are still left in nature after a long winter - not even the animals will eat them.