Solanum ficifolium Ortega

Knapp, Sandra, 2013, Typification of Solanum species (Solanaceae) described by Casimiro Gómez Ortega, Anales del Jardín Botánico de Madrid 70 (1), pp. 56-61 : 57-59

Solanum ficifolium Ortega , Nov. Pl. Descr. Dec. 116. 1800

Ind. loc.: “ Habitat in Insula Cuba. Floret in Horto R. Matrit. Octobri, et Novembri, è seminibus missis per D. Espinosa ”.

Neotype, designated here: MA 334586 .

Current accepted name: Solanum ferrugineum Jacq.

Solanum ficifolium has long been treated as a synonym of the widespread tropical weed S. torvum Sw. (e.g., Dunal, 1813, 1852; Whalen, 1984; Nee, 1999) but none of the material in MA identifiable with Ortega’s epithet corresponds to that species. It is possible that this synonymy was predicated on the type locality of Cuba cited by Gómez Ortega; seeds were said to have been sent by Mariano Espinosa, a Cuban resident and correspondent of Gómez Ortega’s who was in contact with but not part of the Sessé and Mociño expedition ( McVaugh, 1977; Blanco & al., 2000). All of the material annotated as S. ficifolium I have found at MA (with a single expection see below) corresponds to S. ferrugineum , a species of western Mexico that does not occur on Cuba and that differs from S. torvum in its deflexed fruiting pedicels and glandular stellate trichomes. It is possible that Espinosa received seeds of S. ferrugineum from Sessé whilst the latter was in Cuba (1795-1798) and then sent them to Gómez Ortega without provenance, hence the assumption they were from a Cuban plant. Some support for this explanation can be found also in the case of Malvella leprosa (Ortega) Krapovickas (Malvaceae) , a common Mexican species unknown from Cuba, that was originally described by Ortega based on plants grown from supposedly Cuban seeds sent by Espinosa ( Fuertes & Fryxell, 1993).

Four sheets annotated as S. ficifolium were found in the general herbarium at MA, all appear to have been prepared from plants grown in the garden. MA308539 bears a label “ Solanum ficifolium Ortega , ex horto 1803” in the hand of José Demetrio Rodriguez and has sinuate leaves and two small inflorescences; it was collected after the publication of S. ficifolium and possibly could be from different plants to those seen by Ortega. MA 334586/4 is a mixed collection with three plant fragments and two labels “ Solanum ficifolium Ortega ” in hand of José Demetrio Rodriguez (?) and “ Solanum ficifolium [Lagasca hand]/ Ortega Decad [unknown hand]/Rl. Jardin de Madrid [pale brown unknown hand, see above]”. Of the three fragments on sheet two are referable to S. ferrugineum Jacq. , one with more or less sinuate leaves (in the upper L of the sheet) and the other with the characteristic deflexed fruiting pedicels of that species (lower right of the sheet); neither of these fragments have flowers. The third plant fragment is a tiny piece of what appears to be S. capense L. A sheet (MA 334586/2) labelled “ Solanum ficifolium Ortega ” in unknown hand consists of three fragments that are clearly referable to S. ferrugineum , two have flowers and fruit on deflexed pedicels and the third only flowers. These fragments are from older plants with angular (not sinuate) leaves, in Solanum juvenile leaves are often repand and sinuate ( Roe, 1966). Also filed as S. ficifolium MA 334586/3 has a typed label stating “ex. Hort Matr 1803” and is a good specimen of S. ferrugineum .

MA 334586 was annotated as “lectotype” by A.L. Cabrera 1971 but the lectotypification was never published. This specimen ( Fig. 1B ) has a label with “ Solanum ficifolium Ortega / ex Hort. Reg. Matr. anno 1803” in hand of José Demetrio Rodriguez and is a young flowering plant with sinuate leaves and three inflorescences (one of which is branched). This sheet best matches Ortega’s protologue which mentions both sinuate leaves and branched inflorescences and so is here selected as the neotype ( Fig. 1b ). Although this juvenile plant lacks the diagnostic fruiting pedicels, the stems and inflorescences have the glandular stellate trichomes characteristic of S. ferrugineum .

Figures

Fig. 1. a, neotype of Solanum cymosum Ortega (=Solanum lanceolatum Cav.) (MA 476353); b, neotype of Solanum ficifolium Ortega (= Solanum ferrugineum Jacq.) (MA 334586); c, neotype of Solanum leprosum Ortega (=Solanum elaeagnifolium Cav.) (MA 334600); d, neotype of Solanum subbiflorum Ortega (=Solanum capense L.) (MA308482).