Capsicum benoistii Hunz. ex Barboza, PLoS ONE 14(1): 4. 2019.

Barboza, Gloria E., Garcia, Carolina Carrizo, Bianchetti, Luciano de Bem, Romero, Maria V. & Scaldaferro, Marisel, 2022, Monograph of wild and cultivated chili peppers (Capsicum L., Solanaceae), PhytoKeys 200, pp. 1-423 : 1

3. Capsicum benoistii Hunz. ex Barboza, PLoS ONE 14(1): 4. 2019.

Fig. 31

Type.

Ecuador. Tungurahua: Baños, 3 Apr 1931, M.R. Benoist 4204 (holotype: P [P04023406]) .

Description.

Erect shrubs with few branches. Young stems 3-angled, light brown, glabrous or sparsely pubescent with appressed-antrorse, simple, uniseriate, 3-5-celled, eglandular trichomes 0.3-1.1 mm long; bark of older stems dark brown, angled, glabrous; lenticels absent. Sympodial units difoliate, the leaves geminate; leaf pair markedly unequal in size, subequal in shape. Leaves membranous, discolorous, dark green above, light green beneath, glabrous or with sparse trichomes adaxially and abaxially, similar to those of the stems, more abundant on main veins; blades of major leaves 8.5-12 cm long, 2.8-6 cm wide, ovate or elliptic, the major veins 4-5 (-6) on each side of mid-vein, the base asymmetric and attenuate, the margins entire, the apex long-acuminate; petioles 0.5-1 cm long, glabrous or glabrescent; blades of minor leaves 2.4-6 cm long, 1.7-4 cm wide, ovate or elliptic, the major veins 3-4 on each side of mid-vein, the base asymmetric and rounded, the margins entire, the apex acute or rounded; petioles 0.1-1 cm long, glabrescent or sparsely pubescent. Inflorescences axillary, 3-6 flowers per axil; flowering pedicels 13-20 mm long, angled, filiform, pendent, non-geniculate at anthesis, moderately to densely pubescent, the eglandular trichomes long, spreading to antrorse; pedicels scars inconspicuous. Buds ovoid, colour unknown. Flowers 5-merous. Calyx 2-2.5 mm long, ca. 5 mm wide, cup-shaped, thick, colour unknown, moderately pubescent with the same trichomes as pedicels, the calyx appendages 5, 2.5-3.5 mm long, ca. 0.5 mm wide, equal or subequal, thick, erect, subulate, inserted close to the margin, with the same pubscence as calyx tube. Corolla ca. 12-13 mm long, thick, deeply stellate without interpetalar membrane, lobed nearly to the base, glabrous adaxially and abaxially, the tube ca. 3 mm long, the lobes ca. 9 mm long, ca. 2 mm wide, narrowly triangular, erect, the margins and the tips pubescent. Stamens five, equal; filaments 3-3.2 mm long, inserted on the corolla 1.5 mm from the base, with auricles fused to the corolla at the point of insertion; anthers ca. 3 mm long, ellipsoid, not connivent at anthesis. Gynoecium with ovary 1.3-1.7 mm long, 1.2-1.5 mm in diameter, subglobose; ovules more than two per locule; nectary ca. 0.3 mm tall; styles dimorphic, long style ca. 6.5 mm, short style ca. 3.6 mm, clavate; stigma 0.3 mm long, 0.5 mm wide, globose. Berry and seeds unknown.

Distribution.

Capsicum benoistii is endemic to a restricted area in central-southern Ecuador (Provinces of Tungurahua and Loja) (Fig. 32 ).

Ecology.

Capsicum benoistii grows in thickets in montane forests, between 1,500 and 2,600 m elevation.

Phenology.

Flowering from March to May. Fruiting time unknown.

Chromosome number.

Not known.

Common names.

None recorded.

Uses.

None recorded.

Preliminary conservation assessment.

EOO (2,627.651 km2); AOO (12 km2). Considering the extent of occurrence, the area of occupancy, the few localities (3) where it was collected and the decline observed in its geographic range, we assign C. benoistii the Endangered (EN; B1+2ab(i,ii) category. The species has not been collected since 1978 despite recent intensive field explorations in the same locations ( Barboza et al. 2019).

Discussion.

The affinities of C. benoistii have not yet been explored and, due to the lack of data on some morphological characters, it is not assigned to any of the recognised clades ( Barboza et al. 2019). This species is poorly known and information about corolla colour, fruit and seed characters and chromosome number are still lacking. However, C. benoistii is distinctive in its deeply-lobed stellate corolla (lobes three times longer than the tube, Fig. 31B, F ) and in the presence of heterostylous flowers (Fig. 31G, H ). These features, plus the short flowering pedicels (13-20 mm long), distinguish C. benoistii from C. geminifolium , a morphological similar species, which has campanulate corollas that are lobed less than 1/3 of the way to the base and homostylous flowers.

The presence of heterostylous flowers in C. benoistii is unusual amongst Capsicum species. It has been reported in C. chinense ( Peña-Yam et al. 2019), C. baccatum ( Hunziker 2001; Barboza 2013), in many cultivars ( Perera and Poulos 1993) and observed in C. pubescens (see Fig. 103I-K ).

Specimens examined.

See Suppl. material 4: Appendix 4.

Figures

Figure 31. Capsicum benoistii A flowering branch B flower C calyx D section of the calyx showing the venation E eglandular trichome of the calyx F opened corolla G gynoecium with long style H gynoecium with short style. From Benoist 4204. Drawn by N. de Flury. Published in Barboza et al. (2019), reproduced with permission.

Figure 32. Distribution of C. benoistii, C. caatingae, C. caballeroi, C. campylopodium and C. cardenasii

Figure 103. Capsicum pubescens A reproductive branch B trichome of the leaf C calyx D section of the calyx showing the venation E flower, upper view F sector of opened corolla G, H anthers, dorsal and ventral views, respectively I, J, K gynoecium with short, medium and long style, respectively L anatomical detail of the pericarp (note the giant cell in the mesocarp) M seed N seed, in cross section O structure of seed coat at the seed margin P structure of seed coat at the seed body Q embryo. From Hunziker 25484. Drawn by J. de Ugarte.