Solanum verecundum M.Nee, 2000

Knapp, Sandra, 2010, New species of Solanum (Solanaceae) from Peru and Ecuador, PhytoKeys 1, pp. 33-52 : 41-43

Solanum verecundum M.Nee Fig. 5

Type.

Ecuador: Sucumbios: El Salado, colecciones en el sendero a la finca del Sr. Segundo Pacheco, 1400 m, 13 October 1990, J. Jaramillo, E. Grijalva & M. Grijalva 13285 (holotype: QCA; isotype: NY! [NY00381798]).

Description.

Shrub to small tree, 4-14 m tall. Stems densely pubescent with persistent short-stalked porrect -stellate to somewhat peltate trichomes 0.2-0.3 mm in diameter, the rays 10-12, fused for less than half their length, the midpoint sometimes a short stub to 0.5 mm long; new growth densely pubescent with porrect-stellate trichomes like those of the stems, these drying pale golden-brown. Bark of older stems reddish gold from the persistent trichomes. Sympodial units plurifoliate, the branching dichasial. Leaves simple, 6-19 cm long, 2-10 cm wide, elliptic or narrowly elliptic, membranous or chartaceous, discolorous ("silvery beneath" fide Bohs 3361), the upper surfaces moderately and evenly pubescent with sessile and short-stalked porrect-stellate trichomes with up to 15 rays, the rays fused only in their lower part near the midpoint, the midpoint to 0.2 mm long, the lamina visible, the lower surfaces densely pubescent with short-stalked porrect-stellate trichomes to 0.4 mm in diameter with up to 16 rays, the rays fused only in the center, the midpoint to 0.05 mm long, the lamina not visible; primary veins 12-15 pairs, not markedly impressed above, densely covered by pubescence beneath; base acute to somewhat attenuate onto the petiole; margins entire, plane; apex acute to acuminate; petioles 1-1-3(-4) cm long, densely pubescent with porrect-stellate to peltate trichomes like those of the stems. Inflorescences terminal, 7-10 cm long, many times branched, with 100+ flowers, densely pubescent with porrect-stellate to peltate trichomes like those of the stems; peduncle 2-5 cm long; pedicels 5-6 mm long, 1-1.5 mm in diameter at the base, ca.1.5 mm in diameter at the apex, stout, nodding at anthesis, densely pubescent like the inflorescence axes, articulated at the base; pedicel scars closely and more or less regularly spaced ca. 1 mm apart. Buds globose, the corolla strongly exserted from the calyx tube just before anthesis. Flowers all perfect, 5-merous. Calyx tube 1-1.5 mm long, cup-shaped, narrowing gradually to the pedicel, the lobes 1-1.5 mm long, deltate, abaxially densely pubescent with porrect-stellate to slightly peltate trichomes like those of the inflorescence, the adaxial surface sparsely pubescent with sessile porrect-stellate trichomes. Corolla 1-1.2 cm in diameter, white, stellate, lobed ca. ¾ of the way to the base, the lobes 4-5 mm long, 2-2.5 mm wide, reflexed at anthesis, the tips and margins densely pubescent on the abaxial surface with porrect-stellate trichomes with ca. 10 rays like those of the inflorescence, the adaxial surface glabrous, the tips and margins with a few sessile porrect-stellate trichomes. Filament tube minute, the free portion of the filaments ca. 1 mm long, glabrous; anthers 2.5-3 mm long, ca. 1 mm wide, ellipsoidal, loosely connivent, yellow, poricidal at the tips, the pores lengthening to slits with age. Ovary densely pubescent with multangulate to porrect-stellate trichomes; style 6-6.5 mm long, densely pubescent along its entire length with porrect-stellate 4-6-rayed trichomes ca. 0.2 mm long, the midpoints elongate and equal to the rays; stigma capitate, the surface minutely papillose. Fruit a globose berry, 0.5-1 cm in diameter, bright orange when ripe, the pericarp thin, not shiny, unevenly pubescent with multangulate trichomes with rays of many varying lengths, appearing scurfy; fruiting pedicels 0.9-1 cm long, 1.5-2 mm in diameter at the base, woody, erect. Seeds>100 per berry, 1-1.5 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, flattened-reniform, pale golden-yellow, the surfaces minutely pitted, the testal cells square.

Distribution.

Along the eastern slopes of the Andes from northern Ecuador to southern Peru (to the Department of Cuzco; see Nee, 2000 for a distribution map).

Ecology.

Solanum verecundum occurs in premontane and montane forests, primarily in secondary growth ("purma") and along roads, from 1200-2000 m.

Preliminary conservation status.

Solanum verecundum is a relatively common species with a broad distribution along the eastern slopes of the Andes and can be considered of Least Concern ( IUCN 2001).

Specimens examined.

Ecuador: Napo: road Baeza-Tena, 8 km from Baeza, towards Río Cosanga, 1800-1900 m, 0°31'S, 77°50'W, 28 October 1976, H. Balslev & E. Madsen 10400 (BM [BM000935121]). Zamora-Chinchipe: road between El Progreso and Guaramizal, ca. halfway to Guaramizal, 1430 m, 4°48.23S, 79°07.26W, 28 March 2005, L. Bohs, J.L. Clark, J.R. Bennett, N. León et al. 3324 (BM [BM000846206]); Cantón Chinchipe, Parroquia Zumba, trail from Guaramizal to cabin of Sandy León, W of Escuela Byron Jiménez, just S of Las Pircas, 1600 m, 4°46.21S, 79°10.36W, 30 March 2005, L. Bohs, J.L. Clark, J.R. Bennett, N. León et al. 3361 (BM [BM000846204]); Cantón Valladolid, Parroquia Valladolid, road between Valladolid and El Porvenir del Carmen, close to Tapala, 1600-1680 m, 4°32.45S, 79°06.08W, 1 April 2005, L. Bohs, J.L. Clark, J.R. Bennett &N. León 3381 (BM [BM000846226]); Palanda, region de la Cordillera del Condor, Parroquia San Francisco de Vergel, riberas del Río Vergel, entre Santa Rosa y La Canela, 1200 m, 4°39.07S, 79°01.41W, 6 March 2007, W. Quizhpe & A. Wisum 2492 (BM [BM000943415]). Peru. Cajamarca: Prov. San Ignacio, San José de Lourdes, entre Camaná y Santo Tomás, 1800-1870 m, 5°01.00S, 78°52'W, 8 April 1997, J. Campos & S. Corrales 3801 (BM [BM000846199]); Prov. San Ignacio, San José de Lourdes, caserio Rumichina, 1679 m, 5°49.09S, 78°17.04W, 30 June 2006, J. Perea & V. Flores 2508 (BM [BM000943431]). Huánuco: Prov. Ambo, 38 km from Tingo Maria, between Tingo Maria and Pucallpa, 1680 m, 4 August 1978, J. Aronson & P. Berry 618 (BM [BM000795484]).

Discussion.

As mentioned above, the original description of Solanum verecundum ( Nee 2000) included one specimen here segregated as Solanum oxapampense . The taxa differ in a suite of characters, detailed above in the discussion of Solanum oxapampense , but are easy to distinguish by leaf morphology; the leaves of Solanum oxapampense are coriaceous and shiny above while those of Solanum verecundum are membranous or chartaceous and pubescent above. These stellate trichomes cause the leaves to be asperous to the touch on dry specimens. The stellate trichomes of Solanum verecundum , while somewhat peltate like those of Solanum oxapampense , never have the rays fused for more than half their length, and always bear midpoints, even if these are quite tiny. Nee (2000) pointed out the morphological similarity between Solanum verecundum and the similarly widespread Solanum lepidotum Dunal and Solanum schlechtendalianum Walp. The latter two taxa have more lateral inflorescences that are not borne on erect peduncles. Solanum lepidotum and Solanum schlechtendalianum show a similar pattern of hair diversity to Solanum verecundum and Solanum oxapampense ; each species pair has one member with porrect-stellate trichomes with the rays not fused ( Solanum schlechtendalianum and Solanum verecundum ) and one with peltate trichomes ( Solanum lepidotum and Solanum oxapampense ). Taxonomists working with primarily morphological data have traditionally recognised different sub-groupings for taxa with stellate and peltate trichomes ( Seithe 1962, Carvalho 1996, Nee 1999), but molecular data ( Bohs 2005, Weese and Bohs 2007) suggest a more complex situation.

Figures

Figure 5. Isotype specimen of Solanum verecundum M. Nee. (Jaramillo et al. 13258, NY [NY 00381798]). Specimen image reproduced with the permission of The C. V. Starr Virtual Herbarium of The New York Botanical Garden (http: // sciweb. nybg. org / science 2 / VirtualHerbarium. asp).