Solanum malindiense Voronts., 2010

Vorontsova, MS, Christenhusz, MJM, Kirika, P & Muthoka, P, 2010, Three new species of Solanum from Kenya: using herbarium specimens to document environmental change., Systematic Botany 35 (4), pp. 894-906 : 904-905

Solanum malindiense Voronts. , sp. nov.

—TYPE: KENYA. Tana River District: Nairobi Ranch , Ras Wanawali Sabaa , 02°33’ S, 40°37’ E, 5m, 13 July 2006, L. Festo & Q. Luke 2337 (holotype: EA!; isotypes: MO, NHT).

Species Solano usaramense Dammer similis sed foliis lobatis (nec subintegris) et 1.5–2plo (nec 2–3) longioribus quam latioribus, baccis flavis (nec aurantiis) et 15mm vel ultra latis (nec 8–9 mm latis), pilis stellatis sparsis (nec densis) cum stipe ad maximum 0.1 mm tantum longis (nec 0.2–0.4 mm longis) differt.

Scandent shrub to 2 m, armed, sparsely branched; young stems long, ascendant, densely stellate-pubescent; trichomes porrect, translucent, sessile or stalked, the stalks up to 0.1 mm, the rays 6–8, 0.1–0.2 mm, the midpoints same length as the rays or shorter, often reduced to globular glands; prickles 1– 3 mm long, 1–1.5 mm wide at widest point, hooked, flattened at the base but conical at the apex, white-yellow to orange-brown; main branches ca. 5 mm in diam at base, glabrescent; bark smooth, greyish. Sympodial units difoliate, not geminate. Leaves simple, the blades 3–6 × 2.5–4 cm, 1.5– 2 times longer than wide, ovate, chartaceous, drying discolorous, yellow-green to yellow-orange ordark red-green, densely stellate-pubescent abaxially; trichomes porrect, translucent, subsessile, the stalks less than 0.1 mm, the rays ca. 8, 0.15– 0.2 mm, the midpoints same length as the rays or shorter, adaxially glabrescent, with reduced rays and midpoints; the blades unarmed or with 1–5 prickles on the abaxial midvein and often 1 prickle on the adaxial midvein; midvein raised abaxially, flat adaxially, the primary veins 3–5 pairs, spreading at 45–60° to the midvein, the tertiary venation visible on both sides of the leaf; base cordate or sometimes rounded, often oblique; margin subentire to sinuate, the lobes 2–4 on each side, up to 5 mm long, extending up to 1/3 of the distance to the midvein, broadly rounded; apex rounded to obtuse; petiole 1–2 cm, 1/2–1/4 of the leaf length, slender, with 0–4 prickles. Inflorescences apparently terminal or lateral, 2–4 cm long, not branched, 3–10-flowered, with 1–4 flowers open at a time, stellate-pubescent like the young stem, unarmed or with a few small recurved prickles; peduncle 1–5 mm long; rachis 0.3–2 cm long; pedicels 5–10 mm long, slender, articulated less than 0.5 mm from base, stellate-pubescent like the young stem, unarmed or with 1–2 prickles; pedicel scars broad flat stumps, spaced 2–4 mm apart. Buds ovoid to ellipsoid. Plants andromonoecious, with 1(–2) long-styled flowers at the base of the inflorescence, the flowers 5-merous. Calyx 5–8 mm long, obconical, divided for 1/3–2/3 of its length, the lobes 3.5–5 mm long, ca. 1 mm wide at base, equal, longdeltoid, apically long-acuminate, with no venation visible or with a raised midvein, densely stellate-pubescent like the young stem, unarmed or with up to 20 thin straight prickles to 2.5 mm long. Corolla 2–3.7 cm in diam, white to pale mauve, drying orange-brown, stellate, tearing unevenly at anthesis, opening fully but not reflexed, lobed for ¾-4/5 of its length, the lobes 8–12 × 4–5 mm, long-deltoid, apically acute, with a dark midvein, stellate-pubescent abaxially, the trichomes porrect, orange-translucent, subsessile, the rays ca. 8, 0.15– 0.25 mm, undulate, the midpoints shorter than the rays, lengthening towards corolla lobe apices, mostly glabrous adaxially, the trichomes variously reduced and irregular. Stamens with the filament tube 2–2.5 mm; free portion of the filaments ca. 1.5 mm; anthers 8–9.5 mm long, ca. 1.5 mm wide, free, equal, tapering, poricidal at the tips, the pores small, not lengthening into longitudinal slits with age, the anther surface drying smooth to papillose, dark red-brown to orangebrown. Ovary stellate-pubescent in the upper 1/2 only; style 1.3–1.5 cm long on long-styled flowers, curved, the upper 1/3 dark and thick, exserted 3–5 mm beyond the anthers, stellatepubescent in the lower 2/3; stigma clavate, papillose. Fruit a globose berry, 1(–2) per infructescence, ca. 15 mm in diam, spherical throughout development, the pericarp thin, smooth, shiny, sparsely stellate-pubescent in the apical 1/2 during development, becoming glabrous at maturity, marbled green and white when young becoming yellow at maturity, drying orange-brown or dark brown; fruiting pedicels ca. 1.5 cm long, 0.8–1 mm wide at base, herbaceous becoming woody, pendulous, unarmed or with a few straight or curved prickles; calyx accrescent to ca. 10 mm long, covering ca. 1/3 of the mature fruit, with 10–30 straight or curved prickles. Seeds ca. 50–100 perberry, 2.5–3.5 × 2–2.5 × ca. 0.3 mm, flattened-reniform, often somewhat irregular in outline, brown, the surface smooth or with raised outlines of cells or small pits. Figures 4 , 5 I-L. Table 5 .

Distribution and Habitat — Kenya, Coast province: coastal bush, dunes and sand, often on coral, at low altitudes. Figures 1C , 5I .

Etymology— Solanum malindiense is named after the town of Malindi near the site of its first discovery.

Representative Specimens Examined— KENYA. Coast Province: Watamu, Duchess of Gloucester Girls School, 23 Oct 1967, Anonymous 14 (EA); Watamu, Duchess of Gloucester Girls School, 22 Oct 1967, Anonymous 39 (EA); Manda Island, 5 Aug 1982, Brathay Expedition 107 (EA); Kitwa Pembe Hill and vicinity, 15 Jul 1974, Faden & Faden 74/1072 (EA, K); Kilifi, 28 Nov 1945, Jeffery K415 (EA); Kilifi, 22 Oct 1948, Jeffery K600 (EA); Nairobi Ranch, Ras Wanawali Sabaa, 18 Oct 2004, Luke & Luke 10326K (EA); 4 ml Nof Malindi, 3 Nov 1961, Polhill & Paulo 709 (K); Shela, 20 Oct 1984, Robertson 3776 (EA).

Notes— Solanum malindiense has undulate leaves of consistent shape, long-acuminate calyx lobes, curved prickles covering the calyx from late bud onwards, and a pubescent ovary with stellate trichomes persisting until the developing fruit reaches 1 cm in diameter. Solanum malindiense is the northern continuation of S. usaramense populations in the coastal areas of Mozambique, Tanzania, and southern Kenya, with wider and more lobed leaves, larger yellow berries, and sparse indumentum. The name Solanum monotanthum Dammer has been erroneously applied to populations of Solanum usaramense in coastal Kenya and Tanzania. Type material of S. monotanthum found in Universität Göttingen suggests the name S. monotanthum is actually a synonym of S. zanzibarense Vatke and is not synonymous with either S. usaramense or S. malindiense . The habit and yellowish regularly undulate leaves of S. malindiense are reminiscent of two other species of East African coasts: the sympatric S. zanzibarense and S. litoraneum A. E. Gonç. from coastal Mozambique and Tanzania, although the corollas, anthers and fruit are larger than in either of these species.

Figures

FIG.4. Solanum malindiense Voronts. sp. nov. A. Habit in flower. B. Habit in fruit. C. Underside of leaf showing stellate trichomes. D. Stellate trichome. E. Flower. F. Flower and calyx. G. Seed.A, E, F drawn from field photographs, B, C, D, G drawn from herbarium specimens.A from Vorontsova et al. 115. B, C, D from Luke 10326K. E, F from Vorontsova et al. 112. G from Jeffery K415. Scale bar: A = 1.5 cm; B = 2 cm; C, G = 2.5 mm; D = 0.5 mm; E, F = 1 cm. Drawn by Lucy T. Smith.

FIG. 5. Three new species and their habitats in Kenya. A – D. Solanum polhillii Voronts. sp. nov. on Mount Suswa. E – H. Solanum phoxocarpum Voronts. sp. nov. in the Aberdare National Park. I – L. Solanum malindiense sp. nov. at the Mayungu beach. Photographs A – H by Maarten Christenhusz. Photographs I – L by Maria Vorontsova.

FIG.1. Distribution of the three new species in Kenya and Tanzania. A. Solanum polhillii Voronts. sp. nov. B. Solanum phoxocarpum Voronts. sp. nov. C. Solanum malindiense Voronts. sp. nov. Collecting localities not visited are marked as black triangles. Collecting localities visited where the plants were not found are marked as red circles. Collecting localities visited where the plants were found are marked as green squares. Drawn by Paweł Ficinski.