Monographs Details:
Authority:

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

Solanaceae
Description:

Species Description - Shrubs to 1.5 m tall; young stems pubescent with uniseriate curly-tipped trichomes ca. 0.5 mm long, not winged from the leaf bases; older stems glabrate, the bark grayish-green. Sympodial units unifoliate. Leaves elliptic, widest at or just below the middle, glabrous and shining above, glabrous or pubescent along the veins beneath, 9.2-18 x 3-6.5 cm, with 7-9 pairs of main lateral veins, these raised and joined in a series of prominent arches above, prominent and reddish beneath, the apex acute, the base acute, slightly decurrent on the petiole; petiole 4-8 mm long. Inflorescences opposite the leaves, simple, 0.8-3 cm long, 5-8-flowered, sparsely pubescent with uniseriate trichomes like those of the stems; pedicel scars unevenly spaced 0.52 mm apart, raised from the inflorescence axis. Buds globose when young, later ellipsoid with the exsertion of the corolla. Pedicels at anthesis deflexed, filiform, 0.8-1 cm long, tapering from the calyx tube to a slender base ca. 0.25 mm diam., sparsely pubescent with uniseriate trichomes. Flowers with the calyx tube broadly conical, 0.5-1 mm long, the lobes deltoid, hyaline, 0.25-0.5 mm long, sparsely pubescent with uniseriate trichomes like those of the rest of the inflorescence, minutely papillose on the tips of the lobes; corolla white, 6-8 mm diam., lobed ca. 3/4 of the way to the base, the lobes reflexed at anthesis, the tips and margins of the lobes minutely papillose; anthers 1.5-2 x 0.75-1 mm, poricidal at the tips, the terminal 0.05 mm paler and thickened, the pores teardrop shaped; free portion of the filaments 0.25-0.3 mm long, the filament tube 0.25-0.3 mm long; ovary glabrous; style straight, 3.5-5 mm long; stigma clavate and bilobed, minutely papillose. Fruit a globose, green berry, 0.6-1 cm diam. (immature); fruiting pedicels deflexed, woody, 2-2.5 cm long, 0.5-0.75 mm diam. at the base. Seeds not known. Chromosome number not known.

Discussion:

Solanum capillipes is extremely similar to and probably closely related to S. valerianum of lowland western Costa Rica and Panama, sharing with that species long, curly-tipped trichomes. Solanum capillipes differs from S. valerianum in its somewhat less membranous, shiny leaves, longer inflorescences, shorter stem pubescence, and larger flowers.
Distribution:

Venezuela South America| Sucre Venezuela South America| Trinidad and Tobago South America|