Lycianthes fredyclaudiae E.Dean, Phytotaxa 409: 268. 1919

Dean, Ellen, Poore, Jennifer, Anguiano-Constante, Marco Antonio, Nee, Michael H., Kang, Hannah, Starbuck, Thomas, Rodrigues, Annamarie & Conner, Matthew, 2020, The genus Lycianthes (Solanaceae, Capsiceae) in Mexico and Guatemala, PhytoKeys 168, pp. 1-333 : 1

15 Lycianthes fredyclaudiae E.Dean, Phytotaxa 409: 268. 1919 Fig. 36

Type.

Guatemala. Baja Verapaz: Niño Perdido, Cerro Verde, east of km 150 of Cobán Road, in high forest, elevation not recorded, 3 Dec 1976, C.L Lundell 20419 (holotype: LL 00490012; isotypes: F [acc. # 1912542], MO [acc. # 3342033], LL [00490006]).

Description.

Scandent shrub to weak vine, sometimes epiphytic, 2-3 m tall. Indument of tan, pale yellow, or orange, uniseriate, multicellular, stalked, multangulate-stellate, eglandular, spreading trichomes 0.25-1 mm long, 0.75-1.2 mm in diameter, the rays 3-5 per whorl, straight, often rebranched. Stems tan-green to purple-green when young, moderately to densely pubescent, not compressed when dried in a plant press, becoming dark brown and woody with age, the surface of the stems shiny and somewhat longitudinally wrinkled upon drying; upper sympodial branching points mostly monochasial, with some dichasial branching point, the branching not widely divaricate, the adjoining branches often forming straight continuous axes. Leaves simple, the leaves of the upper sympodia usually paired and unequal in size, the larger ones with blades 3-8.5 × 1.5-4 cm, the smaller ones with blades 1-3.5 × 0.5-2.5 cm, the leaf pairs similar in shape, the blades ovate, elliptic, or obovate, the smaller leaf sometimes nearly round, coriaceous, sparsely to densely pubescent, sometimes nearly glabrous adaxially, the trichomes usually dense on the abaxial side, especially along the veins, the base cuneate to rounded, sometimes oblique, the margin entire, usually irregularly undulate, the apex obtuse, acute, or short-acuminate, the petiole 0.2-1.4 cm long, sometimes absent, the larger leaf blades with 3-5 primary veins on each side of the midvein. Flowers in groups of 2-8, axillary, oriented horizontally; peduncles absent; pedicels 8-25 mm long and erect in flower, to 31 mm and erect in fruit, moderately to densely pubescent; calyx 2-3.5 mm long, 3-4.5 mm in diameter, campanulate, moderately to densely pubescent, the margin truncate, with 10 spreading linear appendages 0.5-2 mm long emerging 0.25-0.5 mm below the calyx rim; fruiting calyx enlarged, widely bowl-shaped to rotate, 2-3 mm long, 5-8 mm in diameter, the appendages not elongating; corolla 0.7-1.7 cm long, rotate in orientation, entire in outline, with abundant interpetalar tissue, adaxially white to pale lilac, very sparsely puberulent, abaxially white to pale lilac, the lobes sometimes greenish, moderately to densely puberulent; stamens unequal, straight, the four short filaments 0.5-2 mm long, the one long filament 2-4 mm long, glabrous, the anthers 4-5 mm long, lanceolate, free of one another, yellow to purple, usually with small, white trichomes scattered on either the face of the anther or on the two lobes at the very bottom of the anther, poricidal at the tips, the pores ovate, dehiscing distally, not opening into longitudinal slits; pistil with glabrous ovary, the style 7-8 mm long, linear, straight, glabrous, the stigma oblong, decurrent down two sides. Fruit a berry, 5-13 mm long, 4-12 mm diameter, globose to depressed globose, green to white when immature, yellow to orange when mature, sometimes with a few scattered trichomes, lacking sclerotic granules. Seeds 10-40 per fruit, 2.5-4 × 2-3.5 mm, flattened, thickened on the edges, circular to depressed ovate in outline, sometimes reniform with small notch on one side, yellow-orange to orange-brown, the surface reticulum with loose serpentine pattern and deep luminae, the margin rougher in texture than the center

Chromosome number.

Unknown.

Distribution and habitat.

Guatemala (Baja Verapaz), in cloud forest, "tall forest," wet forest thickets, and forest floors, sometimes along drainages or on slopes, prefers undisturbed forest, 1500-1800 m in elevation (Fig. 37 ).

Common names and uses.

None known.

Phenology.

Flowering specimens have been collected all months of the year except September to November and January to February; specimens with mature fruits have been collected all months of the year except April and May. In the field, the first author observed that the corollas were open in the morning and closed in the afternoon.

Preliminary conservation status.

Lycianthes fredyclaudiae is a Guatemalan cloud forest endemic, represented by 13 collections from a relatively small area, with six collections from protected areas (Mario Dary Rivera and Sierra de Minas). Dean et al. (2019a) provided a preliminary conservation assessment of Endangered (EN) for this species.

Discussion.

Lycianthes fredyclaudiae is a species of cloud forest that is known only from the area south of Cobán in the Department of Baja Verapaz. In the 1970s, this species was often collected in primary forest in the vicinity of Union Barrios (collections include those made by the fourth author of this paper), but when this area was revisited in 2017, most of the forest had been cleared, and it was difficult to find the species in the remnants along the highway. One plant was located growing in a roadside thicket, after two days of searching the area, including two reserves. Therefore, it is assumed that the species prefers more undisturbed, lower light habitats, and the species may now be a rare plant ( Dean et al. 2019a). Lycianthes fredyclaudiae has been misidentified as L. cuchumatanensis , a species related to L. sideroxyloides . It differs from that species in having rotate, mostly entire corollas (vs stellate corollas), and unequal stamens (vs equal). It is most similar to L. chiapensis , L. breedlovei , and L. hortulana . Lycianthes chiapensis differs in being a large vine climbing high into the canopy, having thinner leaves, and having trichomes with rays that are mostly unbranched. Lycianthes breedlovei and L. hortulana differ from L. fredyclaudiae in having stellate corollas and divaricate branching ( Dean et al. 2019a).

Representative specimen examined.

Guatemala. Baja Verapaz: along Guatemala Highway 14 just south of highway marker 158 and La Ram Tzul nature reserve, W side of the road, 15.2064, -90.2065, 1610 m, 11 Aug 2017, E. Dean 9508 (DAV226622).

Figures

Figure 36. Image of herbarium specimen of L. fredyclaudiae, Lundell 21085 (LL). Specimen used with permission from the Lundell Herbarium, University of Texas at Austin.

Figure 37. Map of geographic distribution of L. fredyclaudiae based on herbarium specimen data.