Solanum yanamonense S.Knapp
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Authority
Knapp, Sandra D. 2002.
section (Solanaceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 84: 1-404. (Published by NYBG Press) -
Family
Solanaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type. Peru. Loreto: Maynas, Explorama Tourist Camp on Río Amazonas between Indiana and mouth of the Río Napo, ca. 80 km N of Iquitos, non-inundated tropical rainforest, ca. 100 m, 3°28'S, 72°48 W, 23-27 Jul 1984, Knapp 6613 (holotype, BH; isotypes, NY, US, USM).
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Description
Species Description - Small shrubs, 0.3-1 m tall; young stems and leaves densely and minutely puberulent with uniseriate trichomes ca. 0.05-0.1 mm long; the stems not becoming glabrate, not winged; bark of older stems grayish-red; branches arched and flattened, giving the shrub a planar aspect. Sympodial units unifoliate, not geminate except on non-reproductive nodes. Leaves narrowly elliptic to narrowly ovate, widest at or just proximal to the middle, glabrous and shiny above, densely puberulent along the veins beneath with trichomes like those of the young stems, the leaves 5.5-9 x l .3-2.5 cm, with 8-9 pairs of main lateral veins, these converging at about the halfway point of the lamina, slightly raised above, prominent beneath, the apex long-acuminate, the extreme tip truncate and rounded, the base truncate; petioles minute, 1-2 mm long, winged from the leaf base. Inflorescences opposite the leaves, threadlike, simple, 1-1.5 cm long, 4-6-flowered, but only one flower open at a time, densely puberulent with the same golden, uniseriate trichomes as the stems, ca. 0.05 mm long; pedicel scars in pairs, the members of a pair ca. 0.5 mm apart, the pairs ca. 2 mm apart. Buds globose when young, the corolla soon exserted from the calyx, the buds later obovoid. Pedicels at anthesis threadlike, deflexed, 6-7 mm long, tapering from the calyx to a filiform base ca. 0.1 mm diam. Flowers with the calyx tube broadly conical, ca. 0.5 mm long, the lobes minute, broadly deltoid, often only tiny projections of the tube, ca. 0.1 mm long, glabrous; corolla greenish-white, 4-5 mm diam., lobed nearly to the the base, the lobes strongly reflexed at anthesis, the tips and margins of the lobes minutely papillose; anthers 1-1.2 x 0.75-1 mm, poricidal at the tips, the pores teardrop shaped; ovary glabrous; style straight, 2-2.5 mm long; stigma clavate, the surface minutely papillose. Fruit a globose, green berry, becoming yellowish-green when ripe, 1-1.3 cm diam.; fruiting pedicels slightly woody, de-flexed, ca. 2 cm long, slightly expanded at the apex, 0.25-0.5 mm diam. at the base. Seeds dark brown in dry material, tan in fresh material, ovoid-reniform, ca. 3 x 1.5 mm, the surfaces minutely pitted. Chromosome number: n = 12 (voucher Knapp & Mallet 6613).
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Discussion
Solanum yanamonense is similar and probably closely related to S. confine, also of Amazonian Peru, but the latter species is found in the foothills of the Andes and not in the true Amazonian lowlands. Solanum yanamonense differs from S. confine in its smaller stature, distinctive leaf venation with the main lateral veins arching and converging again very near the midrib, and in its minute, greenish flowers. The leaf apex of S. yanamonense differs from that of all closely related species in being long-acuminate with a truncate tip. Solanum yanamonense is a small understory shrub of terra firme primary forest and it grows abundantly in clumps where it occurs. Its range may be much more extensive, but because of its small, inconspicuous green flowers and fruit, it is not likely to be collected often; however it should be looked for in Amazonian Brazil. Solanum yanamonense is not treated by Vasquez (1997), and he apparently does not consider it as a synonym of any other species occurring in the Iquitos area.
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Distribution
In the Amazon basin of eastern Peru, only known from the type locality on the Río Amazonas near the mouth of the Río Napo, at ca. 120 m.
Peru South America| Loreto Peru South America|