Plant ID -- Black Nightshade?

Just going through my pictures from this season, and have a few pics I took of some plants I couldn't identify. Here's one, that was growing around a pile of compost that was delivered from offsite:

Nightshade of some type? Flowers and fruit look about right.

Maybe something in the nightshade family?

Does it send out root wherever it touches the ground? Does it smell really bad when crushed?
If so, it can run rampant and it's difficult to get rid of.

Craig Dobbelyu wrote:...If so, it can run rampant and it's difficult to get rid of.

Build a compost pile on top of it.

Yeah, it looks like solanum americanum or American nightshade. It has been a good year for that plant in Maine this year. I often see it on the inside edges of my hoophouses.

Yep, I was thinking something in the nightshade family, and that looks right to me...here's the Wikipedia entry on it for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanum_americanum

I think I'll bag up all the berries and try to get rid of it if possible...

That looks like black nightshade. I consider it a nice weed, it's an edible plant. The berries are decent tasting. Sam Thayer has a great chapter about black nightshade in his book Nature's Garden.

Do you have any pictures of the younger plants? If the younger plants have purple on the underside of the leaves, then it could be Solanum ptychanthum. I know for sure that the fully ripe berries of this species can be eaten raw, as long as they are fully ripe. Do not try to eat partially ripe berries with green veins as they may cause indigestion. Wait until the berries easily fall off the plant or have already fallen off before eating them. I have heard reports that the young leaves of the related Solanum nigrum and Solanum americanum can be eaten at least when properly cooked, but I have not tried this yet with Solanum ptychanthum.

That is Deadly Nightshade. I remove all I find on the farm. Don't eat it.

Barbara Martin wrote:That is Deadly Nightshade. I remove all I find on the farm. Don't eat it.

The OP plant is definitely in the nightshade family but I'm pretty certain it's not deadly nightshade (atropa belladonna). Belladonna has berries that grow one to a stem and it has a distinct star-shaped bract on the berry. The OP plant has berries growing in clusters and the bract is much smaller.