Mickey Mouse Fruit

Description:

Got this photo when I visited South, Cotabato, Philippines last May 2012. The residents called it Mickey Mouse fruit because its shape resembles the cartoon character's head.

Habitat:

Solanum mammosum is commonly known as Nipplefruit, Titty Fruit, Cow's Udder, or, ambiguously, "Apple of Sodom". It is an annual to perennial plant in the Solanaceae family, part of the Solanum or nightshade genus, and a relative of the tomato and potato. This poisonous fruit is native to South America, but has been naturalized in the Greater Antilles, Central America and Caribbean.

Notes:

The plant is grown for ornamental purposes, in part because of the distal end of the fruit's resemblance to a human breast, while the proximal end looks like a cow's udder. It has been used in traditional medicine for the treatment athlete's foot by hunters in Trinidad and for irritability and restlessness. It is sometimes also used as a detergent. It is imported to Taiwan and Hong Kong as decorative foliage for use in religious and festival floral arrangements. They are commonly used in building Chinese New Year trees due to their auspicious golden coloured fruit.