Solanum pertenue Standl. & C.V.Morton

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Solanaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Solanum pertenue Standl. & C.V.Morton

  • Type

    Type. Costa Rica. San José: Santa María de Dota, 15001800 m, Dec 1925, Standley 42852 (holotype, F; isotype, US [F neg. s.n.]).

  • Description

    Species Description - Shrubs 1-2 m tall; young stems and leaves densely puberulent with minute uniseriate trichomes 0.050.2 mm long, these often soon deciduous; older stems glabrous, lightly winged from the decurrent leaf bases; bark grayish-red, not lenticellate; branches spreading horizontally, giving the shrubs a flattened aspect. Sympodial units unifoliate. Leaves elliptic to narrowly elliptic, not geminate, except occasionally on the lower stems, widest at the middle, glabrous above, glabrous or densely pubescent along the veins beneath, with 57 pairs of main lateral veins, these slightly raised above, prominent and yellow on leaf undersides; lamina 7-13 x 2-4.5 cm, the apex acute to acuminate, the base acute, decurrent onto the petiole; petioles 2-5 mm long. Inflorescences opposite the leaves, simple, 0-5 mm long, 1-3-flowered, glabrous or minutely puberulent with erect uniseriate trichomes like those of the stems. Buds globose when young, the corolla soon exserted from the calyx tube and then the buds obovoid, flattened at the apex, glabrous or minutely puberulent. Pedicels at anthesis deflexed, 1.1-1.4 cm long, filiform, tapering gently from the calyx tube to a base ca. 0.25 mm diam. Flowers with the calyx tube narrowly conical, 0.5-1 mm long, the lobes deltoid, glabrous, ca. 0.5 mm long, glabrous or minutely and sparsely puberulent with uniseriate trichomes ca. 0.1 mm long; corolla white, 0.7-1 cm diam., lobed ¾ of the way to the base, the lobes strongly reflexed at anthesis, the tips of the lobes papillose; anthers 2-2.5 x ca. 1 mm, poricidal at the tips, the pores teardrop shaped; free portion of the filaments 0.25-0.5 mm long, the filament tube 0.1-0.5 mm long; ovary glabrous; style straight, 5-6 mm long; stigma bilobed, minutely papillose. Fruit a globose berry, green or yellowish-green when ripe, 1-1.5 cm diam.; fruiting pedicels deflexed, woody, slightly expanded at the apex, 2-2.2 cm long, ca. 0.75 mm diam. at the base. Seeds pale tan, dark in dry material, ovoid-reniform, 2.5-3 x 1.1.5 mm, the surfaces minutely pitted. Chromosome number not known.

  • Discussion

    Solanum pertenue is related to S. confine of eastern Peru, with which it shares short, golden uniseriate trichomes, white flowers, and occasionally foetid foliage. It differs from that species in its tiny inflorescences and more elongate fruiting pedicels. The inflorescence in S. pertenue is reduced and in the type specimen bears only a single flower. Most plants of S. pertenue have 2 or 3 buds in each inflorescence, but in Monteverde, Costa Rica, the third of these usually does not open. If one of the first two buds is damaged or removed, the third bud opens and produces a flower.

    In Monteverde, Costa Rica, where I studied the reproductive ecology of this and six other species of sect. Geminata (Knapp, 1986a), S. pertenue is a shrub of the edges of treefall gaps, and grows under closed or nearly closed canopy forest. The flowers are pollinated largely by workers of Bombus ephippiatus, but small halictid bees also visit the flowers (see Table IX). The leaves of S. pertenue are fed upon by the larvae of the ithomiine butterfly Pteronymia artenna (see Table XI).

  • Distribution

    In montane Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, from 700-2000 m, in understory of primary premontane or montane cloud forest.

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