Lycianthes belensis (Merr. & L.M.Perry) A.R.Bean, Austrobaileya 6(3): 567. 2003.

Knapp, Sandra, 2022, A revision of Lycianthes (Solanaceae) in Australia, New Guinea, and the Pacific, PhytoKeys 209, pp. 1-134 : 1

2. Lycianthes belensis (Merr. & L.M.Perry) A.R.Bean, Austrobaileya 6(3): 567. 2003.

Figs 7 , 8

Solanum belense Merr. & L.M.Perry, J. Arnold Arb. 30: 50. 1949. Type. Indonesia: Papua: 18 km. NE of Lake Habbema, Bele River, 2,300 m, Nov 1938, L.J. Brass 11223 (holotype: A [n.v.]; isotypes: BM [BM000778128], L [L0003624], LAE [acc. # 6543, acc. # 229595]).

Type.

Based on Solanum belense Merr. & L.M.Perry.

Description.

Small shrubs to 1 m tall; stems terete, moderately pubescent with tiny glandular papillae and simple uniseriate 1-5-celled trichomes ca. 0.5 mm long, the trichomes transparent, weak-walled and collapsing, somewhat tangled; new growth densely pubescent with simple uniseriate trichomes like those of the stems, glabrescent; bark of older stems brown, glabrescent. Sympodial units difoliate, the leaves geminate, the leaves of a pair differing only in size, not in shape, the minor leaves often deciduous. Leaves simple; blades of major leaves 7-14 cm long, 3-6.5 cm wide, elliptic, widest in the middle, concolorous, membranous to chartaceous; adaxial surfaces glabrous; abaxial surfaces often purplish green, with the lamina glabrous and scattered simple uniseriate trichomes ca. 0.5 mm long on the veins and midrib; principal veins 4-6 pairs, puberulent beneath; base narrowly acute, margins entire; apex acute to abruptly acuminate; petiole 0.6-1(1.5) cm long, glabrous or with a few scattered trichomes like those of the stems; blades of minor leaves 2.5-4 cm long, 1.3-1.7 cm wide, in shape and pubescence like the major leaves; petioles 0.5-0.7 cm long. Inflorescences axillary fascicles of ca. 4 flowers, 1-2 open at a time, moderately pubescent like the stems; pedicels 0.7-2 cm long at anthesis, lengthening considerably at anthesis, ca. 0.5 mm in diameter at the base, ca. 1.5 mm in diameter at the apex, glabrous, articulated at the base; pedicel scars closely spaced in leaf axils. Buds ellipsoid, the corolla included in the calyx tube and exserted halfway just before anthesis. Flowers 5-merous, apparently unisexual and heterostylous, individual specimens with either short-styled or long-styled flowers, the plants possibly dioecious. Calyx tube 2.5-3 mm long, 2.5-3 mm in diameter, cup-shaped, glabrous with the rim minutely papillate, occasionally with up to 3 very small appendages, the rim transparent and ruffly, extending ca. 0.75 mm beyond the appendages (if present). Corolla ca. 2.4 cm in diameter, white or purple, stellate, lobed ca. 2/3 of the way to the base, a thin rim of interpetalar tissue present, the lobes ca. 3 mm long, ca. 0.9 mm wide, spreading, membranous, glabrous except for the densely papillate tips, margins and adaxial midvein. Stamens equal; filament tube minute; free portion of the filaments ca. (0.5) 3 mm long, glabrous; anthers 2.5-3 mm long, ca. 1.5 mm wide, ellipsoid and tapering, yellow, poricidal at the tips, the pores directed distally and not elongating with age. Ovary conical, glabrous; style in short-styled flowers less than 1 mm long, in long-styled flowers ca. 4 mm long (only seen in buds), straight, glabrous; stigma strongly bifid with diverging lobes ca. 0.25 mm long, the surfaces minutely papillate. Fruit a globose berry, ca. 1 cm in diameter, green (immature), the pericarp glabrous, relatively thin, matte, opaque; fruiting pedicels ca. 1.5 cm long, ca. 1 mm in diameter at the base, ca. 1.5 mm in diameter at the apex, green (?), erect or spreading, not markedly woody; fruiting calyx a spreading plate beneath the berry, somewhat fleshy except for the thinner rim. Seeds and stone cells not seen. Chromosome number not known.

Distribution

(Fig. 9 ). Lycianthes belensis is endemic to New Guinea; found in Papua New Guinea (Chimbu, Eastern Highlands) and Indonesia (Papua).

Ecology and habitat.

Lycianthes belensis is rarely collected but appears to be a plant of Fagaceae and Castanopsis forests, from sea level to around 2,300 m elevation.

Common names.

None recorded.

Preliminary conservation assessment

( IUCN 2020). EOO (10,187 km2 - VU); AOO (16 km2 - EN). Lycianthes belensis is known from only three widely spaced localities, all in forested areas; it is very rarely collected and has not been collected recently. I propose a preliminary threat status of Endangered (EN [B2 a(iii, iv)]) for L. belensis .

Discussion.

There are very few collections of Lycianthes belensis and the range of variation needs further examination with additional material. The type collection (Brass 11223) has somewhat larger flowers on longer pedicels than other material, but leaf shape, pubescence and seed morphology suggest these all correspond to the same taxon. Specimens here included in L. lucens from the islands in the Louisiade Archipelago have been identified as L. belensis . Lycianthes belensis differs from L. lucens in its pubescent (versus glabrous) stems and its calyx with a thin, translucent ‘ruffly’ rim and 0-3 tiny appendages (versus a less obviously translucent rim with 3-5 triangular appendages emerging at right angles to the calyx tube).

Lycianthes belensis is a plant of high elevations while L Lycianthes lucens , also a plant of montane forests, is found at lower elevations. Their phylogenetic relationship has not been tested.

Specimens examined.

Indonesia. [type only]

Papua New Guinea. Chimbu: Chimbu valley, Gembogl, Yei nigl, 2,700 m, 31 Jan 1981, Sterly 80-469 (L); Eastern Highlands: Kassam, [Kassam Pass], 1,370 m, 3 Nov 1959, Brass 32400 (LAE, US) ; Mount Gahavisuka , 2,250 m, 16 Mar 1984, Cruttwell 2602 (L) .

Figures

Figure 7. Lycianthes belensis (Merr. & L. M. Perry) A. R. Bean. Drawing by M. L. Szent-Ivany, first published in Symon (1985: fig. 9, as S. belense Merr. & L. M. Perry). Courtesy of the Board of the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium (Adelaide, South Australia), reproduced with permission.

Figure 8. Lycianthes belensis herbarium specimen. Indonesia. Papua: Brass 11223 (isotype of S. belense, BM 000778128). Courtesy of the Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London, reproduced with permission.

Figure 9. Distribution of Lycianthes belensis.