My husband returned from walking the dog in the neighborhood with a small piece of a plant he found growing near the road in an empty lot. He says it's a small shrub.

My first thought was some sort of Solanum, but those tiny flowers (2-3mm or about 1/8 of an inch) make me wonder. I'm sorry the photos aren't great-the light was going... Also, that purple stem near the flowers (in the last photo) belongs to another plant

The leaves are fairly thin (and kinda mildewy), but they (and the stems) have a slightly felty (not plush enough to be velvety) texture. No milky sap, and my sense of smell isn't great, but I don't detect any fragrance from any part of the plant.

Thanks for having a look,
Virginia

Looks like night shade.
https://www.eattheweeds.com/am...

I agree, it looks like Nightshade (Solanum sp.); one possibility is Black Nightshade (Solanum ptychanthum)

https://www.clemson.edu/cafls/...

Yes, the leaves, stems and berries all say 'Nightshade' (Solanum sp.).

I was confused by what I was thinking were tiny, atypical flowers (bottom photo), but I finally realized that they weren't flowers, but are remnants of structures (receptacles or pedicels?) that had attached some missing berries to the stem.

Apparently, Eastern Black Nightshade (Solanum emulans) is the most common in the SC Lowcountry, though S. americanum and S. nigrescens were also suggested when I uploaded a few photos at iNaturalist.


Virginia

Yes, the "flowers" put me off too.