Solanum pseudoquina A.St.-Hil.

  • Authority

    Knapp, Sandra D. 2002. section (Solanaceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 84: 1-404. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Solanaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Solanum pseudoquina A.St.-Hil.

  • Type

    Type. Brazil. São Paulo:  Saint Paul, St. Hilaire s.n. (holotype, P [Morton neg. 8302]).

  • Synonyms

    Solanum inaequale Vell., Solanum flagrans Ten., Pionandra flagrans Miers, Cyphomandra flagrans (Ten.) Sendtn., Solanum undatifolium Dunal, Solanum ramosissimum Dunal

  • Description

    Species Description - Shrubs or small trees, 2-10 m tall; young stems and leaves minutely glandular puberulent, soon glabrate; bark of older stems yellowish-green, glabrous and shining; bark of large branches and trunk yellowish-gray, longitudinally rugose. Sympodial units difoliate, geminate. Leaves narrowly elliptic, widest at the middle, glabrous above and below except for tufts of uniseriate trichomes in the axils of the main lateral veins; major leaves 6-13 x 2.5-5.5 cm, with 7-9 pairs of main lateral veins, these prominent and pale yellow below, the midrib raised above, the apex acute, the base attenuate, only slightly decurrent on the petiole; petioles 1.5-2 cm long; minor leaves differing from the major ones only in size, 4.5-8 x 2-3 cm, the apex acute, the base attenuate; petioles 0.5-1 cm long. Inflorescences opposite the leaves, simple or occasionally furcate, 1-3 cm long, 25-40-flowered, the extreme tip minutely glandular puberulent like the young leaves; pedicel scars unevenly spaced 0.5-1.5 mm apart, beginning near the base of the inflorescence. Buds globose when very small, later ellipsoid, the corolla soon exserted from the hyaline calyx. Pedicels at anthesis slender, 0.9-1 cm long, tapering from the calyx tube to a slender base ca. 0.5 mm diam. Flowers with the calyx tube ca. 1.5 mm long, tapering to the pedicel, the lobes square, apiculate, the apex with few uniseriate trichomes ca. 0.25 mm long, the margins hyaline; corolla white, 1.2-1.8 cm diam., planar at anthesis, lobed nearly to the base, the tips of the lobes minutely papillose; anthers dimorphic, falcate, three large ones 3-3.5 mm long, two short ones 2-3 x ca. 1 mm, poricidal at the tips, the pores round and very small, the outer surface of the anthers with thickened cell walls, appearing grayish in dry material; free portion of the filaments ca. 1.5 mm long for the 3 large anthers, 0.5 mm long for the remaining 2 anthers, the filament tube ca. 1 mm long, ca. 0.5 mm long between the two short anthers; ovary glabrous; style straight, ca. 7 mm long; stigma clavate, minutely papillose at the extreme tip. Fruit a globose, green berry, 1.2-2 cm diam.; fruiting pedicels woody, erect or somewhat deflexed, ca. 1.5 cm long, expanded at the distal end to ca. 3 mm diam., ca. 1.5 mm diam. at the base. Seeds yellowish, flattened-reniform, 3.5-4 x 3-3.5 mm, the margins incrassate, the surfaces minutely pitted. Chromosome number not known.

  • Discussion

    Solanum pseudoquina has long been known as S. inaequale Veil., but the epithet pseudoquina has priority (see above and Carauta, 1973, for dates of publication of Florae fluminensis). Solanum pseudoquina is closely related to a rare species of southeastern Brazil, S. reitzii, with which it shares dimorphic anthers with small, round pores. This character state is found only in these two species. Solanum pseudoquina is easily distinguished from S. reitzii by its larger flowers, glabrous stems, leaves with pubescence only in the axils of the main lateral veins beneath, and the pale yellow venation of dry material. Solanum pseudoquina is common in southeastern Brazil. It grows to be a large treelet and is often locally common where it occurs.

    In São Paulo, St. Hilaire reported the use of the bark of Solanum pseudoquina as a febrifuge, hence the specific epithet. A chemical extract of the bark revealed a high percentage of a bitter substance (“principe amer de nature purement végétale. 1/12"), which was not further analyzed (St. Hilaire, 1825). Two other species of the S. nudum species group (S. nudum in Colombia and S. spirale in Laos) are also reported to be used as febrifuges. Chemical analyses may reveal characters to further support the unity of this difficult group.

    The type specimen of Solanum pseudoquina is in fruit (see Fig. 51), so until a careful examination of the material was made it was not known that this name applied to the same taxon as did S. inaequale. A type specimen does not exist for S. inaequale, but there is no doubt about the disposition of this name since the unequal anthers are so striking. The type specimen of S. pseudoquina is an exact match for material identified as S. inaequale from near Vellozo’s type locality. The absence of flowers on the type of S. pseudoquina led botanists to ignore it as a valid epithet, and has created some confusion in herbaria.

  • Common Names

    quina, canema

  • Distribution

    Common in the forests of southeastern Brazil, from Espíritu Santo to Santa Catarina, and in Argentina and Paraguay, at 100-800 m, in a variety of habitats.

    Brazil South America| Minas Gerais Brazil South America| Paraná Brazil South America| Rio de Janeiro Brazil South America| Rio Grande do Sul Brazil South America| Santa Catarina Brazil South America| São Paulo Brazil South America| Paraguay South America| Alto Paraná Paraguay South America| Canindeyú Paraguay South America| San Pedro Paraguay South America| Argentina South America| Corrientes Argentina South America| Misiones Argentina South America| Uruguay South America|