Solanum acuminatum Ruiz & Pav.

Authority

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

Family

Solanaceae

Scientific Name

Solanum acuminatum Ruiz & Pav.

Type

Type. Peru. Huánuco: ad Chinchao vicum, Ruiz & Pavón s.n. (lectotype, MA, here designated; isolectotypes, B [destroyed: F neg. 2594], MA, MPU).

Synonyms

Solanum pearcei Britton ex Rusby, Solanum hypomicropogon Bitter

Description

Species Description - Treelets to trees 20 cm d.b.h., 4-20 m tall; young stems and leaves glabrous, minutely papillose or sparsely to densely bristly with uniseriate simple trichomes 1-1.5 mm long, usually drying blackish; bark of the older stems pale grayish-brown, glabrous. Sympodial units difoliate, geminate. Leaves elliptic, usually drying dark, widest at the middle, glabrous and shiny adaxially, with tufts of uniseriate trichomes 1-1.5 mm long in the axils of the main lateral veins abaxially, or with the trichomes sparsely to densely covering the abaxial lamina, if the abaxial lamina covered, the trichomes denser along the veins and in the vein axils, the trichomes occasionally branched; major leaves 9-17 x 4-8 cm, with 7-8 pairs of main lateral veins, these prominent below, raised above, the apex acute, the base acute to rounded, occasionally oblique; petioles 0.7-1.2 cm long; minor leaves differing from the major ones mainly in size, 3-6 x 2-3.5cm, the apex rounded, the base acute; petioles 6-8 mm long. Inflorescences opposite the leaves, often appearing terminal and overtopping the growing tips of the leaves, 1-5 cm long, usually simple, but occasionally furcate, 5-50-flowered, glabrous and minutely papillose at the tips to sparsely or densely pubescent with simple uniseriate trichomes like those of the stems, drying black; pedicel scars in pairs, the members of a pair touching but not overlapping, the pairs ca. 0.5 mm apart. Buds globose, the calyx lobes apiculate in bud, the corolla enclosed in the calyx until quite late. Pedicels at anthesis 1.1-1.5 cm long, fleshy, white on live plants, tapering from a basal diam. of ca. 0.5 mm to an abrupt widening at the base of the calyx tube. Flowers with the calyx tube cyathiform, ca. 2 mm long, the lobes rounded deltoid, apiculate, glabrous to sparsely pubescent with simple uniseriate trichomes, 1.5-2 mm long, the apices with minute uniseriate trichomes; corolla white, 1.2-1.8 cm diam., lobed ca. ¾ of the way to the base, the lobes partially reflexed at anthesis, the tips and margins of the lobes minutely papillose; anthers short and stout, ca. 3.5 x 1.75 mm, poricidal at the tips, the pores teardrop shaped; free portion of the filaments 0.25-0.5 mm long, the filament tube 0.25-0.5 mm long; ovary glabrous; style straight, 4-5 mm long; stigma globose, bright green on live plants, minutely papillose. Fruit a globose, green berry, ripening a dirty greenish-yellow, ca. 1 cm diam fruiting pedicels deflexed, woody, the apical portion expanded, ca. 3 mm diam., below this portion tapering gently to a basal diam. of ca. 1 mm. Seeds pale yellow, flattened-reniform, ca. 3 x 2 mm, the margins incrassate, the surface pitted, the pits ca. 0.5 mm diam. Chromosome number not known.

Discussion

Solanum acuminatum is closely related to S. nudum but has larger flowers and longer pedicels in fruit than the latter species. The plants have a distinctive appearance, both in life and on the herbarium sheet. The new growth is usually deep purple, and the leaves are quite shiny on the upper surfaces. The inflorescences remain on the stems after the fruits drop, and a shoot will often have several pseudoterminal inflorescences with the continuing growth from several generations overtopping the dry inflorescence axes on the lower stem. The leaves usually dry dark in color, and the trichomes in the vein axils of the abaxial leaf surfaces are quite variable in density and are often branched.

Distribution

From central Peru to northern Bolivia in secondary growth at 1000-3000 m.

Peru South America| Cusco Peru South America| Huánuco Peru South America| Junín Peru South America| Pasco Peru South America| San Martín Peru South America| La Paz Bolivia South America|