Solanum morii S.Knapp

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Solanaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Solanum morii S.Knapp

  • Type

    Type. French Guiana. Saül, on short cut to airport, ca. 200 m, 3°37 N, 53°12 W, 28 Aug 1988, Mori et al. 19213 (holotype, NY; isotypes, IBE, MO, P).

  • Description

    Species Description - Shrubs 1-3 m tall; young stems and leaves hispid with golden, curling, uniseriate trichomes ca. 1 mm long; bark of older stems reddish-brown; the stems arching, slender. Sympodial units difoliate, geminate. Leaves narrowly elliptic-ovate, widest at or just below the middle, glabrous adaxially, pubescent with golden curling uniseriate trichomes along the veins abaxially, the trichomes denser along the midrib, the margins undulate; major leaves 6-15 x 2-4 cm, with 7-9 pairs of main lateral veins, these drying golden-red abaxially, joining in a series of arches near the margin of the lamina, the apex long-acuminate, the base attenuate; petiole ca. 0.5 cm long; minor leaves differing from the majors only in size, 2-4 x 1-2 cm, the apex long-acuminate, the base attenuate; petioles ca. 0.3 cm long. Inflorescences opposite the leaves, simple, slender, glabrous or with a few minute golden trichomes near the tips, occasionally sparsely pubescent with curling trichomes like those of the stems, 0.5-4 cm long, with up to 25 scars but bearing only 1 or 2 flowers at a time, these soon deciduous; pedicel scars evenly spaced ca. 1 mm apart. Buds globose, the corolla exserted from the calyx tube. Pedicels at anthesis filiform, deflexed, glabrous, 0.8-1 cm long, ca. 0.5 mm diam. at the apex, ca. 0.25 mm diam. at the base. Flowers with the calyx tube conical, the tube 0.5-1 mm long, the lobes broadly deflate with a swollen apical projection, ca. 0.5 mm long, glabrous; corolla white or greenish-white, 0.8-1 cm diam., lobed 3/4 of the way to the base, the lobes reflexed at anthesis, minutely papillose at the tips; anthers 2.5-3 x 0.75-1 mm, poricidal at the tips, the pores teardrop shaped; free portion of the filaments ca. 0.5 mm long, the filament tube ca. 0.5 mm long, glabrous; ovary glabrous; style glabrous, heteromorphic, in short-styled flowers 1.5-2 mm long, included within the anther cone, in long-styled flowers 4-4.5 mm long, exserted from the anther cone; stigma minutely papillose. Fruit a globose berry, green and occasionally white at the base, the pericarp hard at maturity (fruiting pedicel deflexed, 2-2.5 cm long, ca. 0.5 mm diam. at the base, ca. 2.5 mm diam. at the apex. Seeds ovoid-reniform, 3.54 x 2-2.5 mm, pale tan, the margins slightly thickened, the surfaces minutely pitted.

  • Discussion

    Solanum morii is closely related to S. capillipes of Trinidad and the adjacent Paria Peninsula in Venezuela. It differs from that species in its consistently difoliate, geminate sympodial units and its smaller leaves with long-acuminate apices. It appears to be a plant of disturbed areas and secondary vegetation.

  • Distribution

    Central Surinam and the central plateau of French Guiana, with most collections from near Saül, at ca. 200 m. Usually collected in secondary growth forest.

    Suriname South America| French Guiana South America|