[2] The native range of the wolf apple tree is the Brazilian savannah, but it grows also on pastures and disturbed land, such as highway margins, in various parts of Brazil.

[4][5] The wolf apple plant is a flowering shrub or small tree with round open crown, ranging in height from 1.2 to 5 m (4 to 16 ft).

The large leaves are 16 to 28 cm (6 to 11 in) long, simple but deeply lobed, tough, and covered in a soft grey-white fuzz, in alternate disposition.

Plants flower through the year, but more intensely during the dry season, from late fall to early spring.

The flowers are similar to those of the bitter nightshade: star-shaped, with five sepals, five blue or purple petals fused at the base, and five large yellow anthers that release pollen through an opening at the tip.

The latter produce fruit after cross-pollination by several species of pollen-collecting bees, including Xylocopa virescens, X. frontalis, Oxaea flavescens, Centris scopipes, C. fuscata, Bombus morio, Exomalopsis sp., Pseudaugochloropsis graminea, Apis mellifera, and Megachile benigna.

[3] They resemble the tomato in external shape and internal morphology,[5] but also the eggplant for the texture and color of the flesh.

[19] It is believed that the fruits protect the maned wolf from infection of the giant kidney worm, which is usually fatal for the animal.