Like most in the genus Solanum, Sturt’s Nightshade, also known as Thargomindah Nightshade, have purple coloured flowers. The flower has shallow pointed lobes, between 4 to 5 points. The leaves are lanceolate with short stalks, the base often oblique, with the margins slightly wavy. Like other wide-spread species, the plant can be variable, however the berries, measuring approximately 1.5 cm across are a yellowish-brown, turning black when mature, with a brittle skin.

The whole plant including the berry is considered poisonous to stock.

The Solanum genus contain a variable number of annual and perennial plants. Whilst some are edible, there are many poisonous plants.

In Central Australia and the Northern Territory, the genus Solanum that include the bush tomato are usually found as small shrubs anywhere from 20 cm to about 1 metre in height.