Lycianthes impar (Warb.) Bitter, Abh. Naturwiss. Vereins Bremen 24 [preprint]: 504. 1919.

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

7. Lycianthes impar (Warb.) Bitter, Abh. Naturwiss. Vereins Bremen 24 [preprint]: 504. 1919.

Figs 22 , 23

Solanum impar Warb., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 13: 415. 1891. Type. Indonesia. Papua Barat: Sigar [=Sekar], O. Warburg 21244 (holotype: B, destroyed, no duplicates found). Indonesia. Papua: "Sg. Aëndosa bij Oeta" [near Oeta], 3 m, 4 Jul 1941, Aët (exp. Lundquist) 407 (neotype, designated here: BO [acc. # 1579909; isoneotypes: BO [acc. # 1579910], L [L.2881729, L.2881730]).

Solanum ridleyanum Wernham, Trans. Linn. Soc. London 9: 119. 1916. Type. Indonesia. Papua: "Utakwa River to Mt. Carstenz [Puncak Jaya], alt. 1,100-2.500 ft, Camp III, IV" Dec 1912-Feb 1913, C.B. Kloss s.n. (lectotype, designated by Symon 1985, pg. 52 [as holotype]: BM [BM000778110]).

Type.

Based on Solanum impar Warb.

Description.

Small trees or climbers, to 3.5 m tall; stems terete, sometimes with adventitious roots from the nodes (Kloss s.n., 22 Nov 1912), moderately pubescent with transparent, antrorsely curled simple uniseriate 2-3-celled trichomes to 0.5 mm long, the basal cells sometimes enlarged; new growth densely papillate and pubescent with antrorse trichomes like those of the stems; bark of older stems pale grey-brown and somewhat corky and peeling. Sympodial units difoliate, the leaves geminate, the leaves of a pair differing in size and shape. Leaves simple; blades of major leaves 8.5-17 cm long, 2.9-6 cm wide, elliptic, discolorous, chartaceous or coriaceous; adaxial surfaces shiny, completely glabrous; abaxial surfaces glabrous; principal veins 8-10 pairs, prominent and pale yellow of reddish tan beneath; base acute; margins entire; apex acuminate; petiole 0.5-1 cm long, with a few simple antrorse trichomes like those of the stems at the very base; blades of minor leaves 0.8-1.5 cm long, 0.8-1.1 cm wide, orbicular to obcordate but quite variable in shape even within a single plant, similar in texture and pubescence to the majors; base cordate or truncate; margins entire; apex acute or rounded; petiole absent to less than 0.5 cm long, glabrous to absent. Inflorescences axillary with a short axis 0.4-1 cm long, 10-12-flowered, hanging under the leaves, only 1-2 flowers open at a time, glabrous and corky; pedicels at anthesis 0.6-0.9 cm long, ca. 0.5 mm in diameter at the base, ca. 1.25 mm in diameter at the apex, spreading or nodding, glabrous, articulated at the base pedicel scars closely packed, from the very base of the axis. Buds ellipsoid, the corolla ca. halfway exserted from the calyx tube before anthesis. Flowers 5-merous, only short-styled flowers seen, the plants possibly dioecious. Calyx tube 2.5-3 mm long, ca. 3 mm wide, elongate cup-shaped, thick and probably somewhat fleshy in live plants, purple, glabrous, without appendages, the rim slightly thinner and sparsely papillate. Corolla ca. 1.2 cm in diameter, purple or violet with the lobes white (fide Sands et al. 7329), stellate, lobed nearly to the base, interpetalar tissue absent, the lobes ca. 5 mm long, ca. 1.5 mm wide, spreading, thick and fleshy, both surfaces glabrous, densely papillate on tips and margins. Stamens equal; filament tube minute; free portion of the filaments 0.75-1 mm long, glabrous; anthers ca. 3 mm long, ca. 1 mm wide, ellipsoid, yellow, poricidal at the tips, the pores round, directed distally, not elongating to slits with age. Ovary conical, glabrous, vestigial (only seen in short-styled flowers); style and stigma not seen. Fruit an elongate berry, 0.7-1 cm long, ca. 0.6 cm wide, bright blue or purple-blue when ripe, whitish blue to almost white when immature (fide Utteridge et al. 119), the pericarp glabrous, thin, matte, opaque, the fruit flesh purple (fide Utteridge et al. 119); fruiting pedicels 1-1.2 cm long, ca. 0.75 mm in diameter at the base, ca. 2 mm in diameter at the apex, purple, pendent and hanging below the leaves; fruiting calyx a "cupule-like structure" (fide Utteridge et al. 119) subtending the fruit, bright purple or white (fide Takeuchi 9181), thick and probably fleshy in live plants. Seeds 10-20 per berry, ca. 4 mm long, ca. 1.5 mm wide, reniform, not markedly flattened, white ("white, kidney-shaped" in live plants fide Utteridge et al. 119) or pale tan, the surface minutely pitted, the testal cells rectangular in outline. Stone cells absent. Chromosome number not known.

Distribution

(Fig. 24 ). Lycianthes impar is endemic to the island of New Guinea; it has been collected in Papua New Guinea (Southern Highlands, Western) and Indonesia (Papua, Papua Barat).

Ecology and habitat.

Lycianthes impar occurs in lowland rainforests on alluvium, between 10 and 210 m elevation.

Common names.

None recorded.

Preliminary conservation assessment

( IUCN 2020). EOO (257,568 km2 - LC); AOO (48 km2 - EN). Lycianthes impar is known from more than seven localities in both Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, some of which are in protected areas ( Parsch et al. 2022). It is a mostly lowland forest plant that is rather rarely collected; I suggest a preliminary threat status of Vulnerable (VU [B2a,b(iii, iv)])) based on the AOO, the number of localities and the threats for lowland forests more generally ( Parsch et al. 2022).

Discussion.

Lycianthes impar is a small tree or vine with strikingly differently shaped major and minor leaves. The orbicular or heart-shaped minor leaves are like those of L. cladotrichota and L. peranomala , but L. cladotrichota differs in leaves that are pubescent with dendritic trichomes; both L. impar and L. peranomala have glabrous leaves. Stem trichomes of L. impar are soft and somewhat tangled, while those of L. peranomala are stiff and markedly antrorse. Lycianthes impar differs from both those species in having a short, sometimes forked, inflorescence axis; both L. peranomala and L. cladotrichota have strictly fasciculate flowers. Lycianthes oliveriana is similarly glabrous, but Warburg’s description of Solanum impar clearly mentions a “peduncle” (inflorescence axis), distinguishing it clearly from L. oliveriana that lacks any axis. The soft, ovoid berries of L. impar are quite distinct from the woodier globose berries of L. oliveriana . The striking contrast in colour (purple/white) between the fleshy calyx cup and berry during fruit ripening mentioned on labels (e.g., Utteridge et al. 119, Takeuchi 9181) suggests the fruits are bird dispersed.

Symon (1985) mistakenly synonymised Solanum ridleyanum with Lycianthes moszkowskii (as S. moszkowskii ) from which it differs in pubescence type (soft and tangled versus stiff and antrorse), inflorescence morphology (with a small sometimes forked axis versus strictly fasciculate), fruit shape and colour (purplish blue and elongate-ovoid versus globose and bright cherry red) and seed morphology (narrowly kidney-shaped versus strikingly winged in L. moszkowskii ).

The type collection of Solanum impar was made by Otto Warburg (Warburg 21244) in the McCluer Gulf area on the N coast of the Bomberai Peninsula in Papua Barat, where he made a short stop in January of 1889 on his world tour ( van Steenis-Kruseman 1985). I have found no duplicates of his gathering, nor have I found any specimens collected from the same area. A collection made further southwest of the type locality near the town of Oeta in Papua by Aët (an Indonesian collector who collected widely in conjunction with various Dutch botanists, including on the Lundquist expedition, see van Steenis-Kruseman 1985) is a good match for the protologue, has flowers and fruit and is from similar habitat. I here designate Aët 407 (BO acc. # 1579909) as the neotype for L. impar .

In the herbarium at Naturalis (L) Georg Bitter annotated herbarium specimens of Lycianthes impar with designations he never published " Lycianthes amblycarpa " (Versteeg 1351) and " Lycianthes radicans " (Lam 706) (see Names not validly published). Another name not validly published " Lycianthes fistulosa " (with no attribution) is written on the duplicate of Versteeg 1351 at BO (acc. # 1588531).

Specimens examined.

Indonesia. Papua: Rouffaerriiver, Motorbiv, 100 m, Nov 1926, Docters van Leeuwen 11108 (K, L); Utakwa Expedition to Mt. Carstensz. Camp I-III, 22 Nov 1912, Kloss s.n. (BM); reg. flum. Mamberamo, pr. Pioniersbiv [Sungai Mamberano] [Geelvink Bay], 10 m, 23 Jul 1920, Lam 706 (BO, K, L); Mimika Regency, Mount Jaya , PT-Freeport Indonesia Concession Area, between Kali Kopi levee (new E Levee) and the Kopi River , along black water stream flowering into the Kopi River (also black water), 210 m, 9 Mar 1999, Puradyatmika et al. 10428 (A, K, MO); Mimika Regency, Mount Jaya , PT-Freeport Indonesia Concession Area, Kuala Kencana , near PT Freeport Indonesia Office , 50-100 m, 27 Aug 1998, Sands 7329 (A, K); PT-Freeport Indonesia Concession Area, Rimba Irian Golf Course, on outskirts of Kuala Kencana , 10 m, 15 Mar 1999, Utteridge et al. 119 (A, K, L, MO); "fluv. Lorentz" [Lorentz River = Sungai Unir] [Snow Mountains fide Symon 1985], 19 May 1907, Versteeg 1137 (BO, L); fluv. Lorentz, prope ‘Sabang’ [Lorentz River, Sabang van Weel’s camp; Alkmaar bivouac] [Snow Mountains fide Symon 1985], 2 Jul 1907, Versteeg 1351 (BO, L). Papua Barat (West Papua): Sorong, near Klamono, 20 Aug 1948, Pleyte 633 (BO, L) .

Papua New Guinea. sin. loc. (" Solanum elegans Zp./N Guinea"), Without Collector s.n. (L). Southern Highlands : Kutubu patrol area, karst limestone NW of Yorokobaiu village, 600 m, 10 Sep 1993, Takeuchi 9181 (A); Western: Fly River, 528 mile camp., May 1936, Brass 6796 (A, BM, BRI, L); Kiunga subdistr., base camp (Ok Tedi river), 700 m, 2 Nov 1969, Foreman & Galore NGF-45764 (L); Kiunga subdistr., Ok Tedi headwaters, near Kennecott field camp, 800 m, 29 Oct 1969, Henty et al. NGF-42805 (L); Kiunga, Kiunga subdistr., 30 m, 9 Aug 1971, Streimann & Katik LAE-51786 (L) .

Figures

Figure 22. Lycianthes impar (Warb.) Bitter A flowering branch B inflorescence with bud C short-styled flower D berries E seeds. (A Utteridge et al. 119, B van Leeuwen 11108, C Sands 7329, D, E Puradyatmika et al. 10428). Drawing by Lucy Smith. Scale bars: 4 cm (A); 5 mm (B, C); 0.75 cm (D); 1.4 mm (E).

Figure 23. Lycianthes impar herbarium specimen. Indonesia. Papua: Brass 6796 (A). Courtesy of the Herbarium of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, reproduced with permission.

Figure 24. Distribution of Lycianthes impar.