Solanum confine Dunal

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Solanaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Solanum confine Dunal

  • Type

    Type. Peru.  Perou , Poeppig 2279 (holotype, G-DC [F neg. 6782]; isotype, F)

  • Description

    Species Description - Shrubs or small trees 1.5-5 m tall; young stems sparsely to densely puberulent with minute uniseriate and unicellular golden trichomes 0.05-0.25 mm long; bark of the older stems gray-brown, sparsely puberulent; stems lightly winged from the decurrent leaf bases; branches spreading horizontally, giving the shrub a flattened aspect. Sympodial units unifoliate, except on non-reproductive branches. Leaves elliptic, geminate only on non -reproductive nodes, widest at or just below the middle, glabrous above, glabrous or puberulent on the veins beneath with the same minute uniseriate and unicellular trichomes as those on the young stems, these occasionally sparse; major leaves 8-15 x 3.5-6 cm, with 9-11 main lateral veins, impressed above, prominent and yellowish beneath, the veins converging near the margins of the leaf, the apex acute, the base acute, slightly decurrent onto the petiole; petioles 0.6-1 cm long; minor leaves differing from the majors only in size, 1.66 x 0.7-2.5 cm, the apex acute, the base acute; petioles 2-3 mm long. Inflorescences opposite the leaves, simple, 0.5-2.5 cm long, 4-15-flowered, minutely puberulent with uniseriate and unicellular trichomes like those of the stems and leaves; pedicel scars irregularly spaced 1-1.5 mm apart, beginning ca. 3 mm from the base of the inflorescence. Buds obovoid, flattened apicaliy, the corolla early exserted from the calyx, when very young the buds globose and minutely papillose or with a few short uniseriate trichomes. Pedicels at anthesis deflexed. 7-9 mm long, filiform, tapering from the calyx tube to a threadlike base ca. 0.25 mm diam. Flowers with the calyx tube broadly conical, 1-1.5 mm long, the lobes deltoid, 0.5-1 mm long, minutely papillose on the tips or with a few uniseriate trichomes like those of the rest of the inflorescence; corolla white, 1-1.4 cm across, lobed nearly to the base, the lobes planar or slightly reflexed at anthesis, minutely papillose on the tips of the lobes; anthers 3-3.5 x 1-1.5 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 6-8 mm long; stigma capitate, the surface minutely papillose. Fruit a globose, green berry, 1.2-1.5 cm diam; fruiting pedicels deflexed, woody, widened at the apex, 0.5-0.75 mm diam. at the base. Seeds dark brown, ovoid-reniform, 2.5-3 x 1.5-2 mm, the surfaces deeply pitted. Chromosome number: n = 12 (voucher Knapp & Mallet 6649).

  • Discussion

    Solanum confine is most closely related to S. pertenue of montane Central America, and to S. yanamonense of lower-elevation eastern Peru. It differs from those species in its taller stature, larger flowers, and shorter fruiting pedicels. The foliage of S. confine is foetid when the plants are growing in sunny areas. The corolla lobes are not strongly reflexed at anthesis. This species is one of the few in this species group to grow in rank secondary growth as well as in primary forest. Solanum confine is a variable species, with more pubescent individuals occurring at higher elevations. Solomon 9052 was said to be growing as an epiphyte in moist forest.

    The type of S. confine at G-DC does not bear any specific locality information, but an isotype found at F bears the locality information “Maynas, 1831,” and the same collecting number as the holotype. The specimen at F is an exact match for that at G-DC, and I am sure they came from the same plant. Maynas, now a province of the department of Loreto, Peru, was the general name for the eastern slopes of the Andes in northern Peru, so the type could have been collected anywhere in that region.

  • Common Names

    chirisanago chico, chirapa sacha

  • Distribution

    On the eastern slope of the Andes in Peru and N Bolivia, from 200 to 2200 m.

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