Lycianthes (Dunal) Hassl., Annuaire Conserv. Jard. Bot. Geneve 20: 180. 1917

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

Lycianthes (Dunal) Hassl., Annuaire Conserv. Jard. Bot. Geneve 20: 180. 1917 nom. cons.

Lycianthes lycioides Otilix Raf., Medical Fl. 2: 87. 1830, nom. utique rej. Type species. Lycianthes lycioides (L.) Hassl. (as Solanum lycioides L.)

Solanum subsect. Lycianthes Dunal, Prodr. [A.P. de Candolle] 31(1): 29. 1852. Type species (designated by D’Arcy 1972, pg. 211). Lycianthes lycioides (L.) Hassl. (as Solanum lycioides L.)

Parascopolia Baill., Hist. Pl. 9: 338. 1888, nom utique rej. Type species. Lycianthes acapulcensis (Baill.) D’Arcy (as Parascopolia acapulcensis Baill.)

Description.

Perennial herbs, shrubs, vines, lianas or trees, sometimes epiphytic. Stems terete or angled, glabrous or pubescent with simple (unbranched), forked, dendritic or stellate trichomes, these usually eglandular, but sometimes glandular. New growth usually with papillae, these sometimes glandular. Sympodial units unifoliate or difoliate, if difoliate the leaves geminate and often differing in both size and shape (anisophyllous). Leaves simple, entire, glabrous or pubescent with simple (unbranched), forked, dendritic or stellate trichomes, these usually eglandular, but sometimes glandular; petioles well-developed or not. Inflorescences axillary or adnate to the stems and caulescent ( L. kaernbachii only), fasciculate or with a short rhachis; pedicels articulated at the base. Flowers 4-6-merous, usually 5-merous, but some species (e.g., Lycianthes banahaensis (Elmer) Bitter of the Philippines) consistently 4-merous, perfect or heterostylous, long- and short-styled flowers borne on the same or different plants (in Australia, New Guinea and the Pacific probably dioecious). Calyx with a truncate rim, with various numbers (usually multiples of five, but sometimes fewer) of appendages protruding from the calyx tube below or just at the rim, or without appendages; appendages small bumps to linear subulate in shape. Corolla rotate to deeply stellate, white to deep purple (yellow in L. banahaensis ), often with the midvein of the lobes darker and the centre paler or yellow-green, interpetalar tissue present or absent, the lobes minute (rotate corollas) or long-triangular, spreading, cupped or reflexed at anthesis. Stamens equal or unequal, if unequal due to anther and/or filament differences; anthers plumply ellipsoid and obovate to tapering at the tips, usually dehiscing by apical pores, these sometimes opening to longitudinal slits with age. Ovary conical or globose, glabrous; style straight or curved, the stigma minutely capitate, clavate or strongly bifid with diverging lobes. Fruit a berry, globose to ellipsoid to ovoid, green, orange, red or purple, sometimes with stone cells in the mesocarp. Seeds few to many, usually flattened, sometimes winged (e.g., L. moszkowskii ). Chromosome number: n=1224 (few species have chromosome counts).

Distribution and ecology.

Species of Lycianthes are found in the Americas, Asia, Australia, New Guinea and the islands of the Pacific. Species richness is concentrated in Mexico and Central America. No Lycianthes species are native to Africa, Europe or North America north of Mexico.

Discussion.

By far the greatest species diversity in Lycianthes occurs in the Americas (see Dean et al. 2020), but significant diversity occurs on the island of New Guinea (treated here). The description above attempts to cover variation across the distribution, both in the Americas and in the eastern Hemisphere. Ongoing work on the species of Asia (Japan, Philippines and Indonesia to India) may reveal new character states not included above.

As discussed above, the species treated here are mostly (excepting the widespread and weedy L. biflora ) not found elsewhere in Asia, and although they may not be a phylogenetically distinct group, they are geographically logical to treat as a unit. The species treated here are, with a few exceptions, very rarely collected and there are many gaps in our knowledge of both their distribution and morphology. Field observations indicate this is not just due to under-collecting, but that these plants are rare where they do occur; this is often the case for large woody lianas and epiphytes of primary forests (e.g., Orejuela 2021).