I was doing an internet search on bed of nails plant.

The true one has been really hard to find.

Lots of people say that the naranjilla, solanum quitoense, plant is the same as the "bed of nails" version, but I got to grow out a real bed of nails plant, well actually I still have it-- and it does not seem to be the same at all. The fruits on this one are drier, smaller, and generally less tasty and more seedy. The leaves are thicker and definitely more spiny, larger thorns and more of them, and the habit of the plant itself seems to be more spreading and less upright.

The original stock of the plant that I have came from the Smithsonian institute, I think. A man who happened to live 40 miles from me just showed up at my greenhouse one day with it and I ended up babysitting it over the winter for him. I believe the smithsonian institute is where he said he originally saw it and he begged them for some seeds. This was an offspring from those seeds. I met him at the Smalltown garden club in Alexandria Indiana where I did a presentation on tropical plants.

I had obtained seeds of normal naranjillas and breeding them here to make them thornier in an attempt to get one like the bed of nails plant, but I had never been able to get them as thorny as the ones I have now in 5 years of careful growing out and seed saving. I had just happened to bring a small naranjilla plant for a door prize and he recognized it.

The funny part is that I'd been looking for that same plant for several years and been unable to obtain it even through the internet, and here it just walked in the door!

Is anyone else growing the true bed of nails plant?

Here is a link that might be useful: my bed of nails plant