Hmong Bitter Red Ruffled (Pur)

Tall plants with vicious spines covering stems, petioles and leaf veins. Stems are purple and leaves are purple-blushed. Fruit are flattened and highly ribbed. Fruit are dark green when immature, ripening to a bright red. Plants are very leafy. Fruit are intensely bitter and difficult to harvest because of spines and leafiness. Low productivity at Heritage Farm. Solanum aethiopicum. Donated to SSE by Suzanne Ashworth, the author of Seed to Seed. Suzanne Ashworth received this variety from a Hmong refugee (named Tria Thao) while working at the Pacific Elementary School in Sacramento, CA in the late 1960’s. Suzanne uses the eggplants for Japanese flower arranging. SSE Accession # 109481