Black nightshade is a common annual weed of cultivated cropland. As with many of the nightshades, the fruit is a berry, green when immature but black when ripe. This species is very similar to hairy nightshade, the major difference being that as the fruit matures in hairy nightshade (Solanum sarrachoides), the sepals become enlarged and cover the lower half of the fruit whereas in black nightshade they enlarge only slightly. Some sources lump this species with eastern black nightshade (Solanum ptycanthum).