Solanum intermedium Sendtn.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Solanaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Solanum intermedium Sendtn.

  • Type

    Type. Brazil. Minas Gerais: Caxoeira do Campo, Martius s.n. (lectotype, M, here designated [F neg. 6534]; isolectotype, BR).

  • Description

    Species Description - Shrubs 2-3 m tall; young stems pilose with uniseriate (often bi-cellular) golden curl-tipped trichomes 0.5-0.75 mm long, these deciduous on older branches; bark of older stems shiny reddish-brown, slightly exfoliating. Sympodial units difoliate, usually geminate. Leaves lanceolate, widest at or just proximal to the middle, markedly decreasing in size near the tips of stems, glabrous above, pilose beneath with uniseriate trichomes like those of the stems, the trichomes densest along the veins; major leaves 5-11 x 1.4-2.8 cm, the apex acuminate, the base acute; petioles 0.4-1 cm long; minor leaves differing from the majors only in size, 2.2-4.8 x 1-1.8 cm, the apex acuminate, the base acute; petioles 1-3 mm long. Inflorescences opposite the leaves or overtopping the leaves near the shoot tip, occasionally furcate, 1-5 cm long, sparsely pubescent with golden uniseriate trichomes like those of the stems and leaves; pedicel scars irregularly spaced 0.5-1.5 mm apart. Buds globose to elliptic, the corolla soon exserted from the calyx tube. Pedicels at anthesis 0.9-1 cm long, tapering from the calyx tube to a slender base 0.5 mm diam., deflexed at anthesis. Flowers with the calyx tube ca. 1 mm long, densely to sparsely pubescent with uniseriate trichomes like those of the stems and leaves, the lobes deltoid, 1-1.5 mm long, pubescent; corolla white, 1.1-1.2 cm across, lobed nearly to the base, the interpetalar sinuses thin and membraneous, tips of the lobes minutely papillose, planar at anthesis; anthers ca. 2.5 mm long, the terminal 0.5 mm paler and thickened, ca. 1 mm wide, poricidal at the tips, the pores teardrop shaped; free portion of the filaments 0.5-1 mm long, the filament tube ca. 0.5 mm long; ovary glabrous; style 5-6 mm long, straight, clavate; stigma a papillose area on the tip of the style. Fruit and seeds not known. Chromosome number not known.

  • Discussion

    Solanum intermedium is related to S. reitzii and S. campaniforme, both species of southeastern Brazil. It differs from S. campaniforme in its indument of soft, golden trichomes, and from A. reitzii in its anthers of equal size. Solanum intermedium has only been collected to my knowledge once since the middle 1800s, and may be on the verge of extinction. Further collecting is necessary to determine if this is the case. It may be that A. intermedium is a cerrado endemic, which might account for its patchy distribution and potentially vulnerable status.

    I have lectotypified Solanum intermedium with the first of the two Martius collections cited by Sendtner in the original description. The specimen is annotated in Sendtner’s handwriting at M.

  • Distribution

    In mountainous and cerrado areas of southern Brazil.

    Brazil South America| Rio de Janeiro Brazil South America| Minas Gerais Brazil South America|