Solanum deflexiflorum Bitter

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Solanaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Solanum deflexiflorum Bitter

  • Type

    Type. Colombia. Cauca: Sommêt de la Cordillère Occidentale, 2000 m, 7 Nov 1899, Langlassé 40 (holotype, B [destroyed: F neg. 2657]; lectotype, K, here designated; isolectotype, US).

  • Synonyms

    Solanum calycopogon Bitter

  • Description

    Species Description - Shrubs or small trees 2-4 m tall; young stems and leaves glabrous or minutely red-papillose; older stems glabrate; bark of the older stems and trunks pale reddish-brown. Sympodial units difoliate, geminate. Leaves elliptic to narrowly elliptic, the minor leaf often deciduous, glabrous above, pubescent beneath with tufts of white uniseriate trichomes 0.5-1 mm long in the axils of the main lateral veins, the trichomes arising from the veins and the lamina; major leaves 8-15 x 37 cm, with 4-6 pairs of main lateral veins raised above, prominent and orangish beneath, the apex acute, the base acute, often oblique; petioles 0.8-1.5 cm long; minor leaves differing from the major ones only in size, 2-3 x 1.2-1.5 cm, the apex acute, the base acute; petioles ca. 5 mm long. Inflorescences opposite the leaves, simple, 0.5-1 cm long, 10-15-flowered, minutely papillose or with uniseriate trichomes 0.5-1.5 mm long, these varying in density from sparse to dense;pedicel scars closely packed, often overlapping, beginning at the extreme base of the inflorescence. Buds when very young appearing pointed from the long-acuminate calyx lobes, the corolla soon exserted from the calyx lobes, the buds later becoming ellipsoid just before anthesis. Pedicels at anthesis deflexed, 0.9-1.1 cm long, tapering from the base of the calyx tube to a slender base ca. 0.5 mm diam. Flowers with the calyx tube ca. 1 mm long, obconic, the lobes long-triangular to acuminate, ca. 2 mm long, minutely red-papillose, sparsely to densely pubescent with uniseriate trichomes like those of the rest of the inflorescence; corolla white, 1.4-1.5 cm diam., lobed ca. 2/3 of the way to the base, the lobes reflexed at anthesis, the tips of the lobes minutely papillose; anthers 3-3.5 x ca. 1 mm, poricidal at the tips, the pores teardrop shaped; free portion of the filaments ca. 0.4 mm long, the filament tube ca. 0.75 mm long; ovary glabrous; style straight, 5-6 mm long; stigma a papillose area on the tip of the style. Fruit a globose, green berry, ca. 1 cm diam.; fruiting pedicels erect, woody, 1.5-2.5 cm long, ca. 1 mm diam. at the base; calyx lobes woody and persistent in fruit, forming a cup around the base of the fruit. Seeds dark brown in dry material, ovoid-reniform, ca. 4 x 3 mm, the surfaces minutely pitted. Chromosome number not known.

  • Discussion

    Solanum deflexiflorum is closely related to S. incomptum of montane Costa Rica and Panama. It differs from that species in its larger Bowers, long-acuminate calyx lobes, sparser leaf pubescence, and glabrous young growth. The two species share erect fruiting pedicels and woody accrescent calyces.

    Solanum deflexiflorum is quite variable in inflorescence pubescence, and the two extremes have been named as two different species. This seems excessive, as intermediates in pubescence density exist, and the two pubescence types and their intermediates occur together throughout the Cordillera Occidental. Such variation in pubescence is common in sect. Geminata.

  • Common Names

    chuchu, guaco

  • Distribution

    In the Cordillera Occidental of Colombia and into N Ecuador, from 1000 to 3000 m.

    Colombia South America| Antioquia Colombia South America| Cauca Colombia South America| Huila Colombia South America| Ecuador South America| Carchi Ecuador South America| Pichincha Ecuador South America|