[3] This species has several synonyms, one of which is particularly ambiguous:[4] Solanum viarum is native to Brazil and Argentina, and was first discovered in the United States in 1988, having probably been introduced through contaminated seed or other agricultural products.

It is classified as a noxious weed or plant in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Texas, and Vermont, and in California and Oregon it's a quarantine pest.

[6] Since its introduction into the U.S., tropical soda apple has spread rapidly, and currently infests an estimated one million acres of improved pastures, citrus groves, sugarcane fields, ditches, vegetable crops, sod farms, forestlands (oak hammocks and cypress heads), natural areas, etc.

Gratiana boliviana, the tropical soda apple leaf beetle, has been used successfully as an agent of biological pest control to reduce the abundance of this plant in the United States, particularly in Florida.

[7] The mature fruits are smooth, round, yellow and ¾ to 1¼ inches in diameter with a leathery-skin surrounding a thin-layered, pale green, scented pulp and 180 to 420 flattened, reddish brown seeds.