Capsicum geminifolium (Dammer) Hunz., Huitieme Congr. Int. Bot. Paris, Comptes Rend. Seances Rapp. & Commun. sect.4: 73 (1954). 1956.

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

21. Capsicum geminifolium (Dammer) Hunz., Huitieme Congr. Int. Bot. Paris, Comptes Rend. Seances Rapp. & Commun. sect.4: 73 (1954). 1956.

Figs 71 , 72

Acnistus geminifolius Dammer, Bot. Jahrb. 36(4): 384. 1905. Type. Ecuador. Pichincha: "in silv. Monte Corazón”, Sep 1873, P.L. Sodiro 114/84 (lectotype, designated by Barboza 2011, pg. 25: P [P00410128]; isolectotype: CORD [CORD00087960, fragment ex P]).

Capsicum scolnikianum Hunz., Kurtziana 1: 213. 1961. Type. Peru. Piura: Canchaque, en el camino de Piura a Huancabamba, 1200 m elev., 1 Dec 1948, R. Scolnik 1389 (lectotype, designated here: CORD [CORD00006647]; isolectotype: CORD [CORD00006648]).

Type.

Based on Acnistus geminifolius Dammer.

Description.

Erect shrubs or subshrubs, 1-4 (-6) m tall, with the main stem 1-1.5 cm in diameter at base, profusely branched above, rarely herbs 0.30-0.80 m, the branches sometimes scandent. Young stems angled, fragile, green, sometimes with purple ridges, glabrous or sparsely to moderately pubescent with spreading or antrorse, white to yellowish-white, simple, uniseriate, 4-6-celled, eglandular trichomes 0.3-0.6 mm long, sometimes sparse branched trichomes; nodes solid, green; bark of older stems dark brown or greyish, glabrous or moderately pubescent; lenticels abundant, light brown. Sympodial units difoliate, the leaves geminate; leaf pair markedly unequal in size and similar or dissimilar in shape. Leaves membranous, concolorous or discolorous, deep green above, pale green or purple below, with sparse or abundant, simple, eglandular trichomes 0.5-1.2 mm long adaxially and abaxially, sometimes also branched trichomes along mid-vein and occasionally a tuft of simple and branched trichomes in the main vein axils abaxially; blades of major leaves 4-13 cm long, 0.4-2.2 (-3.57) cm wide, elliptic to narrowly elliptic, sometimes ovate or falcate, the major veins 4-6 on each side of mid-vein, the base attenuate, somewhat asymmetric, the margins entire, the apex acuminate or long-acuminate; petioles 0.4-0.8 cm long, moderately pubescent or glabrescent with simple trichomes; blades of minor leaves 0.8-5 (-5.5) cm long, 0.4-1.5 (-2.7) cm wide, ovate or elliptic, the major veins 3-5 on each side of mid-vein, the base short attenuate, rarely asymmetric, the margins entire, the apex obtuse; petioles 0.1-0.5 cm, glabrescent. Inflorescences axillary, 2-5 (-6) flowers per axil, rarely flowers solitary; flowering pedicels (10-) 15-25 (-27) mm, thin, terete, pendent, non-geniculate at anthesis, green or purple-tinged, glabrous to moderately pubescent, the eglandular trichomes short or long, antrorse; pedicels scars inconspicuous. Buds ovoid, yellow or dark purple. Flowers 5-merous. Calyx 1.5-3 mm long, 2-2.5 mm wide, cup-shaped, thin or somewhat fleshy, green, greenish-purple or dark purple (nearly black), glabrescent to moderately pubescent with antrorse eglandular trichomes 0.3-0.7 mm long, the calyx appendages (2-) 3-5, 3-6.5 mm long, 0.3-0.6 mm wide, subequal, erect or spreading, subulate. Corolla 7-12 (-15) mm long, 13-18 mm in diameter, dull yellow or yellow with sparse to abundant maroon or purple spots within and outside or nearly completely purple outside, campanulate, stellate in outline, with a thin interpetalar membrane connecting the lobes in the proximal half, lobed nearly 1/3 of the way to the base, glabrous abaxially and adaxially, the tube 6-7 mm long, 8-10 mm in diameter, the lobes (3-) 5-8 mm long, (3-) 4.5-5.5 mm wide, ovate, erect or spreading at anthesis, the margins and tips papillate. Stamens five, equal; filaments 2-3 mm long, pale green, white or lilac, glabrous, inserted on the corolla ca. 2 mm from the base, with auricles fused to the corolla at the point of insertion; anthers (1.6-) 2-2.5 mm long, ovoid, cream, yellow or rarely white, slightly connivent at anthesis. Gynoecium with ovary (1.5-) 1.8-2 mm long, ca. 1.5 mm in diameter, light green or cream, ovoid; ovules more than two per locule; nectary 0.5-0.8 mm tall, cream; styles homomorphic, 5-7 mm long, exserted 0.8-1.3 mm beyond the anthers, slightly curved distally, cream, clavate; stigma 0.2-0.3 mm long, ca. 0.8 mm wide, usually discoid, sometimes slightly bilobed, light green. Berry 7-12 mm in diameter, globose or globose-depressed, light green when immature, pale orange or orange at maturity, deciduous, non-pungent, the pericarp thick, opaque, lacking giant cells (endocarp smooth); stone cells 1-5 or absent, subglobose or irregular, 1-1.5 mm in diameter; fruiting pedicels 18-30 mm long, pendent, terete or distally ribbed, scarce to strongly widened distally, green, greenish-purple or purple; fruiting calyx 4-5 mm in diameter, persistent, not accrescent, discoid, greenish-purple or green, the appendages 3-8 mm long, 1 mm wide, spreading or reflexed, green, greenish-purple or purple. Seeds (8-) 12-70 per fruit, 1.8-2.3 mm long, 1.3-1.5 mm wide, teardrop-shaped, black, the seed coat reticulate (SM and SEM), the cells polygonal or irregular in shape, the lateral walls straight or wavy; embryo annular.

Distribution.

Capsicum geminifolium is widely distributed over north-western South America, from Colombia and Ecuador to central Peru (Fig. 66 ).

Ecology.

Capsicum geminifolium grows in margins or interior of primary or secondary Andean to sub-Andean montane rain forests, somewhat exposed to light, at (100-) 950-3,500 m elevation.

Phenology.

Flowering and fruiting all year.

Chromosome number.

Not known.

Common names.

None recorded.

Uses.

None recorded.

Preliminary conservation assessment.

EOO (1,120,997.593 km2); AOO (380 km2). Capsicum geminifolium is very common across its range and it is also found in many protected areas. We assign the status of Least Concern (LC).

Discussion.

Capsicum geminifolium is a member of the Andean clade ( Carrizo García et al. 2016, as C. scolnikianum ; Barboza et al. 2019). It is recognised by its 2-5 somewhat fleshy calyx appendages and yellow corollas that may or may not have maroon or purple spots (Fig. 72E-I ). It is commonly confused with the partially sympatric species C. lycianthoides , both in herbaria and literature. The long flowering pedicels (15-27 mm), campanulate (stellate in outline) corollas, membranous elliptic or narrowly elliptic leaves and general pubescence distinguish C. geminifolium from C. lycianthoides , which usually has shorter pedicels (8-15 mm), broadly campanulate (pentagonal in outline) corollas, large ovate to broadly ovate coriaceous leaves and is glabrous or very sparsely pubescent (Fig. 85 ).

When Hunziker (1961) described C. scolnikianum , he mentioned close morphological similarities with C. geminifolium and with other three species now recognised as members of the Andean clade ( C. hookerianum , C. lanceolatum and C. rhomboideum ). Hunziker never recognised C. lycianthoides as an accepted species ( Hunziker 2001: 232-240) and, judging from his descriptions of corolla differences in the protologue of C. scolnikianum , it is obvious he misapplied the name C. geminifolium , referring to what is actually C. lycianthoides . Until recently, this confusion (accepting both C. geminifolium and C. scolnikianum , but not C. lycianthoides ) has prevailed in literature ( Moscone et al. 2007; Barboza 2016; Carrizo García et al. 2016). In Jarret et al. (2019), C. scolnikianum was synonymised under C. geminifolium , whereas C. lycianthoides was accepted as distinct, this treatment being supported in the updated phylogeny ( Barboza et al. 2019).

The type collection of C. scolnikianum , housed at CORD, is mounted on two sheets (CORD00006647, CORD00006648). A label in Hunziker’s hand stating " C. scolnikianum , Typus!, Scolnik 1389" on CORD 00006647 indicates his intent to consider this sheet as the type; therefore, we here designate it the lectotype.

Specimens examined.

See Suppl. material 4: Appendix 4.

Figures

Figure 66. Distribution of C. friburgense, C. galapagoense and C. geminifolium.

Figure 71. Capsicum geminifolium A flowering branch B flower C glandular trichome of the abaxial surface of the calyx D eglandular calyx of the leaf and calyx E branched trichome of the leaf and calyx F section of the calyx showing the venation G sector of opened corolla gynoecium H gynoecium I fruit J anatomical detail of the pericarp (note the absence of giant cells in the mesocarp) K seed, in cross section L structure of seed coat at the seed margin M structure of seed coat at the seed body N embryo. From Scolnik 1389. Drawn by L. Sanchez.

Figure 72. Capsicum geminifolium A plant B main stem with lenticels C flowering branch D flower bud E flower, in lateral view, with long calyx appendages F flower, with short calyx appendages G flower, in pre-anthesis H, I corollas, in front view, with different colouration patterns within J immature fruit K mature fruit A, B, D, J from Barboza & Leiva Gonzalez 4845 C, G from Deanna & Leiva Gonzalez 3 E, I from Barboza & Leiva Gonzalez 4852 F, H from Deanna & Leiva Gonzalez 77 K from Orejuela R. 2688 A, B, D, E, I, J photos by G. E. Barboza C, F-H photos by R. Deanna K photo by A. Orejuela.

Figure 85. Capsicum lycianthoides A flowering branch B reproductive nodes with pedicel scars C flower, in pre-anthesis D, E flowers, in lateral view, with variations in calyx morphology and corolla colouration F, G flowers, in front view H immature fruit I mature fruit A, I from Beltran 85, photos by G. Beltran B, D, H from Deanna et al. 144 C, E-G from Deanna et al. 133, photos by R. Deanna.