Solanum maturecalvans Bitter

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Solanaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Solanum maturecalvans Bitter

  • Type

    Type. Peru. Ayacucho: above Quinua, 3300-3500 m, 30 May 1910, Weberbauer 5543 (holotype, B [destroyed: F neg. 2622]; lectotype, F, here designated; isolectotypes, GH, US).

  • Synonyms

    Solanum aureifolium Rusby, Solanum crotalobasis Bitter, Solanum verniciflorum Bitter, Solanum ochrophyllum Van Heurck & Müll.Arg., Solanum kieslingii Cabrera

  • Description

    Species Description - Shrubs to small trees, 1-10 m tall; young stems and leaves densely arachnoid-pubescent, the trichomes matted and felt-like, soon deciduous; bark of older stems dark grayish-brown with large white lenticels. Sympo-dial units difoliate, geminate. Leaves elliptic, widest at the middle, glabrous and shiny adaxially, often conspicuously búllate, occasionally with a few arachnoid trichomes along the main veins, glabrous or pubescent with arachnoid trichomes along the veins abaxially; major leaves 4-18(-30) cm long, 2-11(-28) cm wide, with 7-12 pairs of main lateral veins, impressed adaxially, brownish abaxially, the apex acute, the base acute; petioles 0.7-1.5 cm long; minor leaves differing from the majors only in size, 3-9 cm long, 1.5-5 cm wide, the apex acute, the base acute; petioles 0.3-1 cm long. Inflorescences opposite the leaves, simple, 0.3-1.1 cm long, 5-15-flowered, glabrous or sparsely pubescent with arachnoid trichomes like those of the stems and young leaves; pedicel scars congested, closely spaced, not overlapping. Buds globose when young, later ellipsoid, the corolla strongly exserted from the calyx tube. Pedicels at anthesis deflexed, filiform, abruptly contracted below the calyx tube, 0.5-1.5 cm long, ca. 0.5 mm diam. at the base, glabrous or sparsely (densely in Solomon 8488) pubescent with arachnoid trichomes like the rest of the inflorescence. Flowers with the calyx tube broadly conical, 1-2 mm long, the lobes broadly deflate, 1-2 mm long, glabrous or occasionally with a few matted arachnoid trichomes; corolla white or greenish-white, in some populations with a pale lilac tinge, waxy, 1.5-2.2 cm diam., lobed nearly to the base, the lobes planar at anthesis, the tips and margins of the lobes densely papillose; anthers 4-6 mm long, 1-2 mm wide, poricidal at the tips, the pores teardrop shaped; free portion of the filaments ca. 0.5 mm long, the filament tube 0.5-1 mm long; ovary glabrous; style 0.6-1 cm long, glabrous; stigma slightly clavate, the surface minutely papillose. Fruit a globose or ovoid green berry, often grayish-green at maturity, the apex pointed when dry, 1-1.5 cm diam., to 2 cm long; fruiting pedicels woody, deflexed, 1.5-2.5 cm long, ca. 1.5 mm diam. at the base. Seeds dark brown, ovoid-reni-form, 2.5-3.5 mm long, 2-3 mm wide, the surfaces minutely pitted. Chromosome number: n = 12 (voucher Knapp & Mallet 6357; Roe, 1967a).

  • Discussion

    Solanum maturecalvans is closely related and morphologically similar to S. ochrophyllum of Bolivia and S Peru and S. nigricans of Mexico and Central America. Populations from the Cuzco area have larger, more conspicuously bullate leaves, but are otherwise similar to the rest of the species. Solanum maturecalvans is easily recognizable due to its conspicuous felty pubescence which appears to slough off in an irregular fashion and the leaves with revolute margins narrowing abruptly to the petiole (the basis for Bitter’s epithet crotalobasis). Older leaves are more glabrous than younger ones, thus Bitter’s choice of specific epithet. Solomon 8488 from the Rio Zongo valley in Bolivia has huge leaves and is much more pubescent than the rest of the specimens I have seen. It may represent a new species but is only just outside the range of variation found in this quite variable species.

    I have not seen the type specimen of Solanum kieslingii, from NW Argentina, nor any of the material cited in the original description (Legname & Cuezzo 5954 (LIL, LP), Fabris et al 3104 (LP), and de la Sota 4418 (LP)—all from the type locality). It appears to be a synonym of S. maturecalvans from the description, and fits well within the wide range of variation of the species. The illustration in the original description (Cabrera, 1978), however, is of a plant with unifoliate sympodia. Many collections of S. maturecalvans from elsewhere in its range appear to have unifoliate sympodia, but this is due to the loss of the minor leaf in drying or specimen preparation. These populations in NW Argentina merit closer study and may also deserve recognition as a distinct species.

    Rusby’s description of Solanum aureifolium is clearly a composite of several sheets and does not completely match the type specimen at NY. The leaf size and leaf base measurements fit Bang 1119 at NY, the designated type, however the numbers of veins in the leaves, inflorescences, flowers, and fruit match Bang 1118, which Rusby had described as S. clavatum Rusby (Rusby, 1896). This specimen was also a mixed collection, with one element clearly matching the description written by Rusby for S. clavatum and the other a member of sect. Cyphomandropsis and later given the name S. confusum C.V. Morton (see Morton, 1944; Bohs, 1994). The element of Bang 1118 to which the description of S. clavatum, and the description of the flowers, inflorescences, and fruit of S. aureifolium refer is the widespread species of sect. Holophylla s.str., S. aligerum Schltdl.

  • Common Names

    urco moyoejaya, orccotunya, qosmayllu

  • Distribution

    S Ecuador to Bolivia and NW Argentina in montane cloud forests from (1000-)2000-3000 m.

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