Lycianthes oliveriana (Lauterb. & K. Schum.) Bitter

Knapp, Sandra, 2024, A revision of Lycianthes (Solanaceae) in tropical Asia, PhytoKeys 245, pp. 1-106 : 1-106

6. Lycianthes oliveriana (Lauterb. & K. Schum.) Bitter , Abh. Naturwiss. Vereins Bremen 24 [preprint]: 504. 1919, as “ Oliveriana ”.

Figs 3 D , 16

Solanum oliverianum Lauterb. & K. Schum. , Fl. Schutzgeb. Südsee [Schumann & Lauterbach] 535. 1901, as “ Oliverianum ”. Type. Papua New Guinea. Sanduan / East Sepik: “ Kaiser Wilhelmsland, Augustafluss ”, Sep 1887, M. Hollrung 776 (lectotype, designated by Symon 1985, pg. 56: K [K 000759399]; isotypes: HBG [HBG- 511470], L [L 0003651], LE [LE 00016994], MEL [MEL 104160], P [P 00379610]).

Solanum memecylonoides Bitter & Schltr. , Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 55: 93. 1917. Type. Papua New Guinea. Sanduan: “ Kaiser Wilhelmsland, Torricelli-Geb [irges] ”, 800 m, 18 Sep 1909, F. R. R. Schlechter 20256 (holotype: B [destroyed]; lectotype, designated by Knapp 2022, pg. 81: P [P 00379576]; isolectotype: BR [BR 0000005528844]).

Solanum memecylonoides Bitter & Schltr. var. finisterrae Bitter , Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 55: 94. 1917. Type. Papua New Guinea. Madang: “ Kaiser Wilhelmsland, Finisterre-Gebirge ”, 1,000 m, 3 Jul 1908, F. R. R. Schlechter 17961 (holotype: B [destroyed]; lectotype, designated by Knapp 2022, pg. 81: P [P 00379575]; isolectotype: UC [cited by Symon 1985, not seen nor on UC / JEPS database]).

Solanum balanidium Bitter , Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 55: 95. 1917. Type. Papua New Guinea. East Sepik: “ Hunsteinspitz ” [Mount Hunstein], 1300 m, Feb-Mar 1913, C. L. Ledermann 11332 (holotype: B [destroyed]). Papua New Guinea. East Sepik: Hunstein range, (Mt. Samsai) at site “ Camp 3 ” on slopes above main streamcourse, 450 m, 17 Jul 1990, W. N. Takeuchi 6156 (neotype, designated by Knapp 2022, pg. 81: LAE [acc. # 293351]; isoneotypes: A [00619947, 00619957], BISH [acc. # 618017], K [K 001153745, K 000922457, K 000922458], L [L. 2881432, L. 2882048], MO [acc. # 4235181], NSW [NSW 825821], NY [01404956, 02286515], US [01253664, acc. # 3723521]).

Solanum ledermannii Bitter , Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 55: 107. 1917, as “ Ledermannii ”. Type. Papua New Guinea. East Sepik: “ Etappenberg ” [between Kamelrücken and Bambooberg 4 ° 38 ' S, 142 ° 29 ' E, fide Veldkamp et al. 1988], 850 m, Oct 1912, C. L. Ledermann 9214 (holotype: B [destroyed]). Papua New Guinea. East Sepik: Amboin, Angoram subdistrict, 90 m, 29 Jul 1967, A. N. Millar & A. W. Dockrill NGF- 35176 (neotype, designated by Knapp 2022, pg. 81: LAE [acc. # 89947]; isoneotypes: BRI [n. v.], L [L. 2881436]).

Lycianthes balanidium (Bitter) Bitter , Abh. Naturwiss. Vereins Bremen 24 [preprint]: 504. 1919. Type. Based on Solanum balanidium Bitter

Lycianthes ledermannii (Bitter) Bitter , Abh. Naturwiss. Vereins Bremen 24 [preprint]: 504. 1919, as “ Ledermannii ”. Type. Based on Solanum ledermannii Bitter

Lycianthes memecylonoides (Bitter & Schltr.) Bitter , Abh. Naturwiss. Vereins Bremen 24 [preprint]: 504. 1919. Type. Based on Solanum memecyloniodes Bitter & Schltr.

Type.

Based on Solanum oliverianum Lauterb. & K. Schum.

Description.

Woody climbers or lianas, sometimes described as shrubs, to 3 + m tall (often described on labels “ beautiful ” e. g., van Royen & Sleumer 7716 from New Guinea); stems terete, glabrous; new growth glabrous or minutely papillate with tiny 1–2 - celled weak simple uniseriate trichomes less than 0.2 mm long, these soon deciduous; bark of older stems whitish grey, peeling and flaking, somewhat rugose and thick. Sympodial units difoliate, the leaves geminate, the leaves of a pair differing in size but not in shape. Leaves simple; blades of major leaves (6.5) 9–25 cm long, (2.8) 3–10 cm wide (perhaps larger but not collected), elliptic, slightly discolorous, thick and coriaceous or chartaceous; adaxial surfaces glabrous, somewhat shiny; abaxial surfaces glabrous; principal veins 6–8 pairs, the midrib slightly keeled above, sometimes drying yellowish tan; base acute, often somewhat oblique; margins entire, revolute; apex acute or acuminate with an elongate drip-tip; petioles 1–2.5 cm long, glabrous; blades of minor leaves 4–9 cm long, 2.5–5 cm wide, shape, texture and pubescence like that of the major leaves; base acute; margins entire, revolute; apex acute or acuminate, occasionally rounded; petioles 0.6–1 cm long, glabrous. Inflorescences dense axillary fascicles, occasionally woody and enlarged with what appear to be short, fat branches, these to 0.3 cm long, with 10–20 - flowers, several open at the same time, glabrous; pedicels at anthesis 1–1.4 cm long, ca. 0.5 mm in diameter at the base, ca. 1 mm in diameter at the apex, spreading, glabrous, articulated at the base; pedicel scars tightly packed on the woody fascicle base. Buds plumply ellipsoid, the corolla ca. halfway exserted from the calyx tube before anthesis. Flowers 5 - merous (4 - merous in Takeuchi 23389), heterostylous, specimens with either all short-styled flowers or long-styled flowers and fruit, the plants probably dioecious. Calyx tube 2.5–3 mm long, 3–3.5 mm in diameter, deeply cup-shaped, usually described as purple or purplish blue, thick and fleshy, densely verrucose / tuberculate, without appendages, the rim somewhat hyaline ca. 0.5 mm wide, sparsely papillate. Corolla 0.8–1.1 cm in diameter, white or purple, stellate, lobed nearly to the base, interpetalar tissue absent, the lobes 2–5 mm long, 1–2 mm wide, spreading or reflexed, thick and fleshy (live plants), appearing woody in dry material, adaxially glabrous to densely papillate with a few weak trichomes distally, abaxially densely papillate somewhat verrucose, the tips and margins densely papillate, the midvein raised especially adaxially, the tips cucullate. Stamens equal; filament tube minute; free portion of the filaments 1–1.5 mm long, glabrous; anthers 2–2.5 mm long, ca. 1 mm wide, plumply ellipsoid or slightly obovoid, creamy white, yellow or purple, glabrous, poricidal at the tips, the pores round, distally directed, not elongating with age. Ovary conical, glabrous, vestigial in short-styled flowers; styles less than 0.2 mm long and vestigial in short-styled flowers, 5–6 mm long in long-styled flowers, straight, glabrous; stigma slightly bilobed, the surfaces minutely papillate. Fruit a globose berry, 0.7–1 cm in diameter, green and becoming bluish black when ripe, the pericarp glabrous, thick and appearing woody in dry material, matte, opaque; fruiting pedicels 1.1–1.5 cm long, 1–1.5 mm in diameter at the base, 1.5–2 mm in diameter at the apex, spreading or erect (?), woody, corky and markedly verrucose / tuberculate; fruiting calyx a cup surrounding ca. the lower half of the berry (making the fruit look like an acorn), woody (fleshy in live plants) and verrucose / tuberculate both adaxially and abaxially, green flushed with purple (fide Polak 864). Seeds 20–40 per berry, 3–3.5 mm long, 2–2.5 mm wide, flattened reniform or slightly tear-drop shape, reddish brown, the surfaces at the margins deeply pitted with pentagonal testal cells, the seed centre only shallowly pitted and the cells not clear, prominent “ hairy ” testal cell walls absent. Stone cells absent. Chromosome number not known.

Distribution

(Fig. 17 ). In Asia Lycianthes oliveriana occurs only in Indonesia on the Maluku Islands (Seram [Maluku] and Halmahera [Maluku Utara]) but is widespread on the island of New Guinea in both Papua New Guinea and Indonesia ( Knapp 2022).

Ecology and habitat.

Lycianthes oliveriana grows in lowland to montane and premontane rainforests, from almost sea level to 2,300 m elevation. On New Guinea this wide elevational range is accompanied by much variation in leaf size and shape ( Knapp 2022).

Common names.

None recorded.

Preliminary conservation assessment

( IUCN 2020). EOO (1,006,290 km 2 - LC); AOO (156 km 2 - EN). Lycianthes oliveriana is known from more than 10 localities at a wide variety of elevations; the assessment here is based on its entire distribution. It occurs within protected areas in both Indonesia and Papua New Guinea (see Knapp 2022). This suggests a preliminary threat status of either Least Concern (LC) or Near Threatened (NT).

Discussion.

Lycianthes oliveriana is a distinctive species with many-flowered axillary inflorescences, relatively small (ca. 1 cm in diameter) flowers with valvate aestivation and thick fleshy corollas, plump, ellipsoid to slight obellipsoid anthers and somewhat warty calyces with no appendages (Fig. 3 D ). The berries appear to have a slightly woody pericarp; this woodiness coupled with the somewhat accrescent calyx tube gives the fruits of L. oliveriana the look of tiny acorns. Lycianthes oliveriana appears to be dioecious, with long- and short-styled flowers on different plants. This needs confirmation in the field, and L. oliveriana would be an ideal subject for a reproductive biology study since it is relatively common and widely distributed.

Lycianthes oliveriana could potentially be confused with L. parasitica , a species with a wider distribution in tropical Asia outside of New Guinea. Berries of L. oliveriana are somewhat woody on dry specimens and have many seeds, while those of L. parasitica are juicy with a translucent pericarp and only have two (to very occasionally four) seeds. Flowers of L. parasitica are cosexual while those of L. oliveriana are either long- or short-styled. On New Guinea L. oliveriana has a wide variety of leaf shapes ( Knapp 2022). The Malaku specimens are of plants with broadly elliptic leaves (Fig. 16 ).

Figures

Figure 3. Calyx appendage variation of Lycianthes in Asia A L. biflora with 10 equal calyx appendages (Nuraliev s. n, Vietnam [no voucher]) B L. laevis with 5 calyx appendages (Mustaqim s. n., Indonesia; DOL 207886) C L. parasitica with small, nub-like calyx appendages (Pelser & Barcelona s. n., Philippines; DOL 84744) D L. oliveriana with thick, warty calyces with no appendages (Damas et al. SAJ- 1050, Papua New Guinea) E L. schizocalyx with long flower pedicels and 10 unequal calyx appendages (Heyer s. n., Philippines; DOL 151906) F L. shunningensis with 10 strongly reflexed calyx appendages (Averyanov 887, Laos). Photograph credits: A Maxim Nuraliev B Wendy Mustaqim C Pieter B. Pelser & Julie F. Barcelona D Shelley James E Philippe Heyer F Leonid Averyanov. DOL numbers are identifiers from PhytoImages (https://phytoimages.siu.edu). Details of collecting localities can be found in Suppl. material 2.

Figure 16. Lycianthes oliveriana (Lauterb. & K. Schum) herbarium specimen. Indonesia. Maluku, Kornassi 649 (K 000922900). Copyright Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, reproduced with permission. http://specimens.kew.org/herbarium/K000922900.

Figure 17. Distribution of Lycianthes oliveriana (including distribution on the island of New Guinea).