Lycianthes bitteriana (Symon) 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

4. Lycianthes bitteriana (Symon) A.R.Bean, Austrobaileya 6(3): 567. 2003.

Figs 13 , 14

Solanum bitteriana Symon, J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. 8: 34, fig. 5. 1985. Type. Papua New Guinea. Morobe: Stoney Creek, CNGT logging area, on foot slopes of Mount Missan, near Bulolo (subdist. Wau), 1,067 m, 1 May 1977, D.E Symon & A. Kairo 10651 (holotype: AD [AD98581513]; isotypes: AD [AD98581514], CANB [CANB355342], F, K [K001080539], L [L.4153288], LAE [acc. # 254856], MO [MO-503790, acc. # 3748792], US [00050681, acc. # 3083630]).

Type.

Based on Solanum bitterianum Symon.

Description.

Large woody herbs to shrubs ca. 2 m tall; stems terete, densely pubescent with uniseriate dendritic 5-10-celled trichomes to 0.5 mm long, the branches short and congested ( “tannenbaumartig”), drying yellowish tan; new growth densely pubescent with uniseriate dendritic trichomes like those of the stems, drying yellowish tan, not markedly glabrescent; bark of older stems dark brown, somewhat glabrescent. Sympodial units difoliate, the leaves geminate, the leaves of a pair differing only in size, not in shape. Leaves simple; blades of major leaves 9-14 cm long, 4-6 cm wide, elliptic to broadly elliptic, widest in the middle, discolorous, membranous to chartaceous; adaxial surfaces moderately and evenly pubescent with dendritic trichomes with congested branches like those of the stems, these denser along the veins; abaxial surfaces more densely pubescent with dendritic trichomes, but the lamina still visible; principal veins 8-9 pairs, yellowish tan abaxially; base acute to truncate, oblique; margins entire; apex acuminate; petioles 1.6-3 cm long, densely dendritic-pubescent; blades of minor leaves 2.5-5.5 cm long, 1.3-3 cm wide, similar in shape and pubescence to the major leaves; petioles 0.5-1 cm long. Inflorescences axillary, the flowers borne on a woody axis with 3-4 short branches to 0.8 cm long, with 10-15 flowers, densely dendritic-pubescent with trichomes like those of the stems and leaves; pedicels 0.9-1 cm long at anthesis, ca. 0.5 mm in diameter at the bae, ca. 1 mm in diameter at the apex, densely pubescent with dendritic trichomes with congested branches, articulated at the base; pedicel scars tightly packed along the woody axes. Buds narrowly ellipsoid, the corolla ca. halfway exserted from the calyx tube before anthesis. Flowers 5-merous, apparently perfect. Calyx tube 2-2.5 mm long, 2-2.5 mm wide, cup-shaped, densely dendritic-pubescent, with 4-5 linear, awl-shaped appendages 0.5-1 mm long, these varying in length within individual flowers, the rim extending ca. 0.1 mm beyond the appendages. Corolla 1-1.2 cm in diameter, white or "whitish blue", stellate, lobed ca. halfway to the base, interpetalar tissue present, the lobes 3-3.5 mm long, ca. 2.5 mm wide, spreading or slightly reflexed, membranous, glabrous with densely papillate tips and a few dendritic trichomes along the midvein adaxially. Stamens equal; filament tube minute; free portion of the filaments ca. 0.5 mm long, glabrous; anthers ca. 2.5 mm long, ca. 1 mm wide, yellow, poricidal at the tips, the pores lengthening to slits with age. Ovary conical, glabrous; style ca. 6.5 mm long, glabrous; stigma minutely capitate and slightly bilobed. Fruit a globose berry, 0.6-0.7 cm in diameter, black or purple-black when ripe, the pericarp glabrous, thin, matte, opaque; fruiting pedicels 1.1-1.3 cm long, ca. 1 mm in diameter at the base, ca. 2 mm in diameter at the apex, green (?), erect to spreading, densely dendritic-pubescent; fruiting calyx a spreading cup beneath the berry, dendritic-pubescent. Seeds ca. 100 + per berry, ca. 1.5 mm long, ca. 1.5 mm wide, flattened with a deep notch at the hilum, yellowish tan, the surfaces minutely pitted, the testal cells sinuate in outline. Stone cells absent. Chromosome number not known.

Distribution

(Fig. 15 ). Lycianthes bitteriana is endemic to the island of New Guinea; it has only been collected in Papua New Guinea (Morobe).

Ecology and habitat.

Lycianthes bitteriana is a plant of secondary forests at mid-elevations, from ca. 1,000 m.

Common names.

None recorded.

Preliminary conservation assessment

( IUCN 2020). EOO (22 km2 - CR); AOO (12 km2 - EN). Lycianthes bitteriana is known from three localities less than 5 km apart, but could be more widely distributed, given its apparently secondary forest nature. I propose a preliminary threat status of Critically Endangered (CR [B1, 2a(iv)]) for L. bitteriana , but field assessment of its distribution is a priority.

Discussion.

Lycianthes bitteriana is a distinctive species with its congested branched trichomes that look like tiny Christmas trees ( “tannbaumartig” of Seithe 1962) and shiny black berries. Unlike many of the other endemic New Guinea Lycianthes , L. bitteriana is a coarse herb or small shrub, in habit very similar to the widely distributed L. biflora . These two species can be easily distinguished by mature berry colour (black in L. bitteriana versus bright red in L. biflora ), inflorescence morphology (many flowers on a short axis in L. bitteriana versus few-flowered fascicles in L. biflora ), and branched trichomes morphology ( L. bitteriana with congested branches versus the loosely branched trichomes of L. biflora ). In addition, the corolla of L. bitteriana has abundant interpetalar tissue and is divided ca. halfway to the base, while that of L. biflora is deeply stellate with little or no interpetalar tissue.

Lycianthes dendropilosa has similar branched trichome with congested branches but differs from L. bitteriana in number of flowers per inflorescence (many in L. bitteriana , 1-3 in L. dendropilosa ), calyx appendages (ca. 10 in L. bitteriana , absent in L. dendropilosa ) and adaxial leaf morphology (evenly pubescent in L. bitteriana , glabrous and shiny in L. dendropilosa ).

Given the nature of the secondary habitat in which Lycianthes bitteriana occurs, it is likely to be more widely distributed across the island of New Guinea.

Specimens examined.

Papua New Guinea. Morobe: Hump L.A. 5 mi SE Bulolo, Wau subdistrict, 1,067 m, 15 Mar 1971, Streimann & Kairo NGF-25854 (A, K, LAE); Mun. Bulolo District, Bulolo , 14 Jan 1957, Wells NGF-7565 (K, L, LAE) .

Figures

Figure 13. Lycianthes bitteriana (Symon) A. R. Bean. Drawing by M. L. Szent-Ivany, first published in Symon (1985: fig. 5, as S. bitterianum Symon). Courtesy of the Board of the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium (Adelaide, South Australia), reproduced with permission.

Figure 14. Lycianthes bitteriana herbarium specimen. Papua New Guinea. Morobe: Streimann & Kairo NGF- 25854 (A). Courtesy of the Herbarium of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, reproduced with permission.

Figure 15. Distribution of Lycianthes bitteriana.