Solanum storkii C.V.Morton & Standl., 1938

Knapp, Sandra, 2013, A revision of the Dulcamaroid Clade of Solanum L. (Solanaceae), PhytoKeys 22, pp. 1-432 : 254-258

39. Solanum storkii C.V.Morton & Standl. , Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. Ser. 18: 1093. 1938 Figure 95

Type.

Costa Rica. San José: Ojo de Agua, 2850 m, June 1932, H.E. Stork 3023 (holotype: F [F-672907, F neg. 49449]).

Description.

Shrubs to medium size (20 cm dbh) trees, 2-10 m tall. Stems and leaves densely pubescent with dull golden echinoid trichomes, the trichome axes rather short, these trichomes deciduous with age; leaf scars somewhat prominent, the stem lightly winged from the decurrent leaf bases; new growth densely pubescent with echinoid and short tree-like trichomes. Bark of older stems grey, sparsely pubescent with a few trichomes of the younger stems. Sympodial units plurifoliate. Leaves simple, 4-10 cm long, 1.3-2 cm wide, narrowly elliptic, the upper surfaces shiny, drying dark, sparsely pubescent with scattered echinoid trichomes on the veins and lamina, the undersurfaces sparsely pubescent with echinoid trichomes, the trichomes slightly sunken beneath the lamina surface; primary veins 8-11 pairs, sparsely pubescent; base attenuate, decurrent on to the petiole; margins entire; apex acute to acuminate; petiole 0.7-1.3 cm long, lightly winged from the leaf bases and on to the stem, not twining. Inflorescences terminal, sometimes appearing lateral from overtopping shoot growth, 3-5 cm long, branching 2-5 times, with 10-15 flowers, pyramidal, densely pubescent with echinoid trichomes; peduncle 1.5-5 cm long; pedicels 0.9-1.1 cm long, tapering from a basal diameter of 0.5 mm to an apical diameter of ca. 1 mm, nodding at anthesis, sparsely to densely pubescent with echinoid and tree-like trichomes, articulated at the base and inserted in a sleeve ca. 0.5 mm long; pedicel scars closely spaced and clustered near the inflorescence branch tips. Buds ellipsoid, the corolla strongly exserted from the calyx tube. Flowers all perfect, 5-merous. Calyx tube 2-3 mm long, conical, the lobes 1-1.5 mm long, deltate, densely pubescent abaxially with echinoid or occasionally tree-like trichomes, sparsely pubescent adaxially with golden dendritic trichomes. Corolla 1.5-2 cm in diameter, violet, lobed ca. 3/4 of the way to the base, the lobes 6-10 mm long, 4-6 mm wide, planar or slightly upturned at anthesis, densely pubescent abaxially with dendritic trichomes, these denser at the tips of the lobes, glabrous adaxially. Filament tube absent; free portion of the filaments ca. 0.5 mm long, glabrous; anthers 4-4.5 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, loosely connivent, poricidal at the tips, the pores becoming slit-like with age. Ovary glabrous; style 6-8 mm long, glabrous; stigma minutely bilobed, scarcely distinguishable from the style, the surface minutely papillose. Fruit a globose berry, 1-1.3 cm in diameter, purplish-black with thin pericarp, the juice sticky and very bitter; fruiting pedicels 1.8-2 cm long, ca. 1.5 mm in diameter at the base, woody, erect to slightly nodding. Seeds 8-9 per fruit, 3-4 mm × 1.5-2.5 mm, reddish-brown, flattened or slightly thickened reniform, the surfaces minutely pitted. Chromosome number: not known.

Distribution

( Figure 96 ). Cordillera de Talamanca from Volcán Poas in Costa Rica to western Panama, from 2300-3300 m.

Ecology.

Páramo, cloud forests and high elevation grasslands, often growing in thickets at the edges of forest patches.

Common names.

Costa Rica: quiticirrú ( González 6).

Conservation status.

Vulnerable (VU); EOO <45,000 km2 (VU) and AOO>10,000 km2 (LC). See Moat (2007) for explanation of measurements.

Discussion.

Solanum storkii , though of restricted distribution, is locally very common, often forming pure stands above the tree line in the Cordillera de Talamanca in Costa Rica and Panama. Its distribution within its range, however, is somewhat patchy, and stands are commoner in open areas or in the later stages of second growth.

Solanum storkii had previously been confused with Solanum cutervanum (as Solanum pulverulentum , see Standley and Morton 1938), but is quite distinct from that species. It can be distinguished from the rest of the members of the Solanum nitidum group in its sparse pubescence of echinoid trichomes, which in dry specimens appear to be in pits on the lower leaf surface, and in its deltate calyx lobes.

Specimens examined.

Costa Rica. Alajuela: Volcán Poás, summit, 2500 m, 1 Dec 1937, Allen 604 (F); Volcán Poas, Mar 1896, Donnell Smith 6668 (BM); Volcán Poás, 16 Apr 1973, Gentry & Burger 2953 (F); Volcán Poás, 2439 m, 6 Jun 1928, Stork 2515 (F); Poás, 2743 m, 29 Jul 1932, Stork 3347 (MO); Cartago: Cordillera de Talamanca, UCR Reserva along the Carretera Interamericana, 10 Jun 1983, Barringer 3109 (F); Cerro de la Muerte, near Memorial to Eleazar Barquero Gonzalez, 31 May 1978, Barrington 581 (MO); near Asunción at the summit of the Interamerican Highway, Provinces of San José and Cartago, 3300 m, 19 Jun 1968, Burger & Stolze 5972 (F); near Asunción at the summit of the Interamerican Highway, Provinces of San José and Cartago, 3200 m, 6 Aug 1971, Burger 7941 (F); trail to Cerro Cuerici, E of Villa Mills and Siberia, 2700 m, 8 Feb 1982, Burger & Barringer 11525 (F); trail to Cerro Cuerici, E of Villa Mills and Siberia, 2700 m, 6 Feb 1982, Burger & Barringer 11525 (F); Volcán Irazú, 2743 m, 24 Feb 1957, Carlson 3563 (F); Cerro de la Muerte, Panamerican Highway, 2439 m, 9 Mar 1952, Carpenter 512 (US); Volcán de Turrialba, Jan 1899, Donnell Smith 7538 (BM); Cantón de El Guarco, R.F. Río Macho, Cuenca del Savegre, Estación Ojo de Agua, Sendero el Mascarilla, 2950 m, 12 Jan 1996, Gamboa & Picado 938 (MO); along Interamerican Highway near El Trinidad and km 72, about 20 km SE from Empalme, 2600 m, 15 Mar 1973, Gentry & Burger 2673 (F); Paraíso, R.F. Los Santos, Cuenca del Savegre, Carretera Interamericana km 88, páramo Buenavista, 3400 m, 25 Nov 1999, González et al. 973 (MO); S slope of Volcán Irazu, on highway about 5 km NE of Finca Robert, 3000 m, 26 Jun 1949, Holm & Iltis 142 (BM, F); Cerro de la Muerte, bosque behind Pensión La Georgina, 2600 m, 7 Apr 1994, Huber & Weissenhofer 1011 (WU); finca ca. 0.5 km E of the Interamerican Hwy. ca. 20 km SE by road from El Empalme, 2500 m, 15 Jul 1970, Lellinger & White 1152 (F, US); Panamericana Road between Km. 60 and 77, La Trinidad. Cordillera Talamanca, mountain of Cerro La Muerte, 3140 m, 26 Feb 1966, Molina R. et al. 17845 (US); Cerro de la Muerte, 95.5 km from San José on the Panamerican highway, 3200 m, 19 Jun 1966, Mori & Anderson s.n. (F); Hotel Georgina, 100 m W along Carretera Interamericana, common in backyard of hotel, 3200 m, 2 Mar 1971, Nee & Mori 3542 (F); Volcán de Turrialba, 2800 m, Jan 1899, Pittier 7538 (F); Cerro de la Muerte, N slopes, 3201 m, 25 May 1971, Proctor 32074 (F); Volcán Irazú, valley of Río Birrís, S slopes of Volcán Irazu, 2743 m, 11 Jul 1962, Webster et al. 12131 (F); Cerro de la Muerte, 4.5 mi E of Ojo de Agua, Cordillera de Talamanca, 3033 m, 15 Jul 1962, Webster et al. 12309 (F); Cerro de la Muerte, km 79 on the Panamerican highway about 17 km NW of Villa Mills, 28 Mar 1967, Wilbur & Stone 8772 (F); above Hotel Robert, slopes of Volcán Irazú, 3100 m, 14 Mar 1948, Williams & Molina R. 13878 (F, US); near Ojo de Agua, Cordillera de Talamanca, 3000 m, 26 Jan 1965, Williams et al. 28276 (US); Limón: Cantón de Talamanca, Sabanas de Dúrika, 1 km aguas abajo de la confluencia de los Río Uk y Río Kuk, 2250 m, 20 Oct 1989, Herrera 3734 (MEXU); Puntarenas: Cantón de Coto Brus, P.I. La Amistad, Cordillera de Talamanca. Estación Altamira. Sendero a Casa de Coca al Valle del Silencio, 2100 m, 17 Apr 1995, Angulo 195 (MO); Cordillera de Talamanca, continental divide halfway between Cerro Dudu and Cerro Nai, 2850 m, 26 Mar 1984, Davidse et al. 26105 (US); San José: Cantón de Pérez Zeledón, Parque Nacional Chirripó, Cuenca Térraba-Sierpe, sendero a Cerro Chirripó, 3100 m, 3 May 1997, Alfaro 1184 (MO); Cerro Vueltas, Dota, Copey, 2850 m, 8 Apr 2000, Castroviejo & Sánchez 15128 SC (MA); northern Cordillera Talamanca, region of Cerro de la Muerte, on Carretera Nacional 2, 2.2 km N of La Georgina Inn, 2934 m, 4 Apr 1978, Davidson 7241 (F, US); Cantón de Pérez Zeledón, Cuenca Térraba-Sierpe, Estación Cuericí, 2800 m, 24 Sep 1996, Gamboa R. & Picado 727 (MO); 50 km north of San Isidro de El General on the Carretera Interamericana, Cerro de La Muerte, 12 Jan 1992, Grant & Rundell 92 1843 (US); Cerro de la Muerte, just off Panamerican highway, 3000 m, 14 Feb 1981, Knapp 825 (BH); northern slopes of Cerro Buena Vista to south of Interamerican Highway crossing, Cerro de la Muerte, 3250 m, 12 Jul 1994, Kress & Sawyer 94 4964 (US); foot of Cerro Estaquero, Talamanca Range, 3200 m, 22 Aug 1965, Lent 728 (F, US); Cantón de Pérez Zeledón, Cord. de Talamanca, Cerro de la Muerte, páramo Buena Vista en los alrededores de las torres del ICE, 3400 m, 19 Oct 1993, Morales et al. 1891 (MO); Cerro de las Vueltas, 2700 m, 29 Dec 1925, Standley & Valerio 43729 (US); Cerro de la Muerte, Talamanca Range, high point along Pan American Highway, 3400 m, 8 Aug 1972, Taylor & Taylor 11724 (US); Dota, páramo de Cerro Buena Vista, en el sitio de las torres del ICE, 3400 m, 12 May 1998, Valverde 907 (MEXU); slopes of Cordillera de Talamanca near La División north of San Isidro de El General, 2400 m, 6 Feb 1963, Williams et al. 24390 (F, US).

Panama. Bocas del Toro: Ridges to W of Cerro Fábrega that lead down to Valle del Silencio, 13.4 km NE from Estacion Pittier, 3200 m, 10 Mar 2006, Knapp & Monro 9971 (BM); Ridges to E of Cerro Fábrega, 3300 m, 16 Mar 2006, Knapp & Monro 10053 (BM); Cerro Fabrega, ca. 1.5 km NW of the peak, 3200 m, 17 Mar 2003, Monro et al. 4150 (BM).

Figures

Figure 95. Solanum storkii C. V. Morton & Standl. (A-B drawn from Heiser 3489). Reproduced from Knapp (1989) with permission of the Natural History Museum Botany Library. Illustration by Margaret Tebbs.

Figure 96. Distribution of Solanum storkii C. V. Morton & Standl.