Lycianthes ciliolata var. pratorum Bitter

A Revision of Lycianthes series Meizonodontae
(UC) UC Berkeley/ (XAL) Institute) de Ecologia, Xalapa
Lycianthes ciliolata (Mart. & Gal.) Bitter
Mexico: State of Puebla; Mpio. Caltepec; 0.85 km E of junction of Acatepec-Caltepec and
Atecoxco-San Pedro Atzumba roads, along road to Caltepec. Same location as Dean 208.
2164 m.
Dry matorral habitat with agricultural fields, with Opuntia, Agave. Present in old field that is
used for grazing this year, and goats are eating the plants. Also growing in cultivated fields
with com, beans, squash and other weeds, and these are not grazed. Soil light, brown and
moist with white rocks (limestone?). Common, but not in every field. Herbaceous perennial
from large storage root. Flowers lilac with violet stripes, present on grazed plants.
Immature firuit green and mature fruit black. Many sterile plants, the fruit already gathered by
people or eaten by goats.
Informant: Uncle of Margarita Gonzalez.. Use: Edible fruit. He likes it very much. Plants fruit
every year. They plant both wheat and com in the old field where the plants are abundant.
Before sowing the crop, they weed out these plants, but they regrow. He thinks the plants
regrow from seed. Indigenous name: "chichi de perra"
Ellen Dean 275	30 Sept 1991
with Thomas Starbuck and Pablo Lima Serrano.
Fieldwork supported by grants and fellowships from:
the National Science Foundation, Explorer's Club, Sigma Xi, Hardman Foundation,
Tinker Foundation, and UC Berkeley
01424496