taxonID	type	description	language	source
FBF66E47314752289A81452004105DBC.taxon	description	Figs 2, 3	en	Martine, Christopher T., Brennan, Kym, Cantley, Jason T., Webb, Aiden T., Newton, Geoffrey (2025): A new dioecious bush tomato, Solanum nectarifolium (Solanaceae), from the northern Tanami Desert, Northern Territory, Australia, with reassessment of S. ossicruentum and a change in the circumscription of S. dioicum. PhytoKeys 268: 183-199, DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.268.169893
FBF66E47314752289A81452004105DBC.taxon	diagnosis	Diagnosis. Solanum nectarifolium is distinguished from other taxa in the Solanum dioicum W. Fitzg. species complex by the presence of prominent and conspicuous extrafloral nectaries on the veins of the abaxial leaf surfaces (Fig. 3), a tinge of purple on the new growth and young fruiting calyces (Fig. 2 F), and curved prickles on young stems (Fig. 2 E). It is further distinguished from Solanum ossicruentum Martine & J. Cantley by having fruit that is only partially enclosed by the calyx (rather than fully) (Fig. 2 D, F, G), a calyx that is far less prickly, and its deeply bifurcating stigmas (rather than only slightly lobed and nearly linear) (Fig. 2 C).	en	Martine, Christopher T., Brennan, Kym, Cantley, Jason T., Webb, Aiden T., Newton, Geoffrey (2025): A new dioecious bush tomato, Solanum nectarifolium (Solanaceae), from the northern Tanami Desert, Northern Territory, Australia, with reassessment of S. ossicruentum and a change in the circumscription of S. dioicum. PhytoKeys 268: 183-199, DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.268.169893
FBF66E47314752289A81452004105DBC.taxon	description	Description. Upright, low-branching, spreading woody shrub to 0.4 – 1.8 m tall and 1 – 2.5 m wide. Multistemmed from base or with single woody stem up to 2.5 cm diameter from woody rootstock, producing first branches ca. 5 – 15 cm above base and ultimately branching ca. 4 – 10 times. Overall plant aspect silvery to bluish green to gray-green, the young growth tomentose-lanate, with older stems woody and whitish-gray. Stems with short, dense indumentum of stellate trichomes. Prickles on young, yellow-green stems stout, curved, sharp, 3 – 7 mm long, slightly widened (1.5 – 2 mm) at base; older stems with prickles scattered to absent, weak, slightly curved, 3 – 5 mm long, <1 mm wide at base. Leaves simple, alternate, 3 – 12 cm long, 20 – 32 mm wide, lanceolate, soft silvery-blue. concolorous, both sides densely silvery-tomentose; trichomes mostly short stalked, porrect-stellate with short central ray (midpoint) and 6 – 8 lateral rays; long-tapering single-celled trichomes and gland-tipped linear trichomes also present and scattered on margins and abaxial surface; abaxial leaf surface dotted with small, rounded, green to blackish extrafloral nectaries ca. 0.5 mm diameter on lateral veins (even those of small order), conspicuously visible without magnification and, when active, exuding a clear, sticky, sweet liquid; abaxial surface with midveins and larger lateral veins raised; margins entire; base truncate to rounded, asymmetrical, consistently oblique by 3 – 5 mm; petiole 4 – 7 mm long, with 0 – 4 prickles 5 – 6 mm long; upper midveins of adaxial surface with 0 – 3 prickles 5 – 6 mm long. Inflorescences borne on new growth, at first terminal, then becoming leaf-opposing; consisting of solitary cosexual (functionally female) flowers and cymes of male flowers on separate plants. Staminate (functionally male) inflorescence a helicoid cyme ca. 4 – 5 cm long with 8 – 16 flowers, unbranched, typically with only 2 – 3 flowers open at a time and then abscising; buds up to 1 cm long before blooming; peduncle ca. 2 – 2.5 cm long, sparsely armed; rachis 2 – 2.5 cm long with 1 – 5 mm long slightly curved prickles alternating with each flower; pedicels ca. 2 mm long, unarmed, abscising at base; calyx 5 - lobed, unarmed, purple-tinged, the lobes 6 – 7 mm long with linear acumens; corolla 1.7 – 2 cm (rarely to 3.8 cm) diameter, purple, rotate-stellate to rotate, stamens 5, ca. 5.5 mm long, equal; anthers ca. 5 mm long, oblong-lanceolate to somewhat tapered, bi-cleft, connivent, yellow, poricidal; filaments ca. 4 mm long, connate at base; ovary, style, and stigma vestigial, non-functional, and not exserted beyond the stamens. Morphologically cosexual (functionally female) flowers solitary; pedicel 0.25 – 1.0 cm long, armed with small prickles to 2 mm long; calyx densely armed along ribs of tube with 4 – 5 mm long, straw-colored straight prickles and stellate trichomes, acumens 10 – 14 mm, narrowly linear (when in bud extending beyond the tip and crossing over each other like a loosely-tied knot); corolla ca. 4 cm diameter, rotate-stellate to stellate-campanulate / funnelform, blue-violet; stamens of same proportions as in male flowers; anthers assumed to produce inaperturate pollen; style erect, stigma bright green and deeply bifurcated with lobes 5 mm long. Fruit a berry 2 – 3 cm (rarely to 4 cm) wide, 2.3 – 3 cm long, globose, light green when immature, sometimes with a purple tinge; ripening to yellow-creamy with a waxy bloom, then aging from creamy white to brown and eventually black, at first fleshy but firm (almost apple-like); fruit wall at first leathery, fleshy but tough (like dried apple), later fully drying to a firm polystyrene foam-like texture; the whole fruit becoming remarkably light in weight. In early development, fruit nearly fully enclosed in prickly and silvery blue-green (at times purple-tinged) calyx, with long, finger-like acumens clasping around the open end of the ripening fruit, then straightening out post-maturity, calyx tube detaching slightly but remaining enclosed around ca. 40 % of the berry; calyx firmly attached at the base of the fruit, aging to papery tan then gray, calyx tube not adhering to the fruit surface but also not detaching from the base. Calyx prickles nearly absent to scattered on the laminar portions, 2 – 7 mm long; prickles concentrated on the midveins of the calyx tube, 5 – 7 mm long, 1 mm wide at base, tapering to a long sharp tip. Fruit and calyx together forming a diaspore that (typically) abscises from the plant at maturity, falls to the ground, becomes dried out and light in weight, fruits occasionally remaining on the plant for longer, growing larger and remaining fleshy. Seeds ca. 2 mm long, broadly kidney-shaped, chestnut-brown to nearly black at maturity, sticky and adhering in a single layer on the placental tissue and inner fruit wall.	en	Martine, Christopher T., Brennan, Kym, Cantley, Jason T., Webb, Aiden T., Newton, Geoffrey (2025): A new dioecious bush tomato, Solanum nectarifolium (Solanaceae), from the northern Tanami Desert, Northern Territory, Australia, with reassessment of S. ossicruentum and a change in the circumscription of S. dioicum. PhytoKeys 268: 183-199, DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.268.169893
FBF66E47314752289A81452004105DBC.taxon	distribution	Distribution and ecology. Solanum nectarifolium is presently known from the northwestern edge of the Tanami Desert, with most collections made in the Winnecke Hills region (Fig. 4) 40 – 70 km south of Lajamanu, further south along the Lajamanu Road, and west into WA in the Gardner Ranges off the Tanami Road (Fig. 1). The species occurs on hilltops on dissected quartzite sandstone pavement, among boulders and rocks on hillsides, and in sand and gravel of washes and plains between and extending from hills. Many of the collections currently held in herbaria were made along or near the most accessible tracks in the region, but suitable habitat for S. nectarifolium extends far beyond where vehicles can easily drive or where botanists have been afforded access. This suggests that S. nectarifolium may be more abundant in that localized region than currently understood. However, there is no evidence that it occurs outside of a fairly restricted distribution range, which is wholly disjunct from the more-northern distribution of S. ossicruentum (Fig. 1). The vegetation at the type locality (Winnecke Hills) is a low open woodland dominated by Blakella aspera (F. Muell.) Crisp & L. G. Cook (Myrtaceae) and Eucalyptus brevifolia F. Muell. (Myrtaceae), with scattered Hakea lorea R. Br. (Proteaceae) and a sparse low mid-story including Grevillea pyramidalis A. Cunn. ex R. Br. (Proteaceae), Grevillea wickhamii Meisn., Acacia stipulosa F. Muell. (Fabaceae), Acacia lycopodiifolia Hook., Acacia retivenea F. Muell., Acacia acradenia F. Muell., Hibiscus cf. leptocladus Benth. (Malvaceae), Jacksonia odontoclada F. Muell. ex Benth. (Fabaceae), and Mirbelia viminalis (A. Cunn. ex Benth) C. A. Gardner (Fabaceae). The sparse ground layer is dominated by hummock grasses, Triodia spicata N. T. Burb and T. bitextura R. L. Barrett & M. D. Barrett (Poaceae) with Solanum aff. echinatum R. Br. (Solanacaeae), Tephrosia lasiochlaena Cowie (Fabaceae), Triumfetta micracantha F. Muell. (Malvaceae) and Cheilanthes brownii (Desv.) Domin (Pteridaceae). Solanum flowers do not produce nectar; they are buzz-pollinated by bees foraging for pollen. While it is not known what bees visit the flowers of S. nectarifolium, bee genera such as Xylocopa and Amegilla have been recorded on related Australian congeners (see Anderson and Symon 1988; Switzer et al. 2016). It is also likely that S. nectarifolium pollen offers differential rewards via the pollen produced by male versus functionally female flowers, as seen in related taxa (Ndem-Galbert et al. 2021). Our observations of the foliar extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) being fed on and actively defended by ants (Fig. 3) further confirm a plant-insect coadaptation previously suggested for related species by Anderson and Symon (1985) and under study by Henry et al. (in prep). Despite there being other Solanum species in the “ Kimberley dioecious clade ” (e. g., S. cunninghamii Benth., S. tudununggae Symon, S. dioicum) known to produce EFNs (on the leaves, flower buds, and abaxial corolla surfaces), these are only visible under a microscope (Anderson and Symon 1985). By contrast, those of S. nectarifolium are large (0.5 mm diam.) and are uniquely, conspicuously visible to the naked eye (Fig. 3 B). Foliar and floral EFNs have otherwise rarely been recorded in Solanum (perhaps only by Whalen et al. (1981) for Solanum section Lasiocarpa), in part because nectaries are typically microscopic and nectar is quickly consumed by insects as it is exuded (Anderson and Symon 1985; S. Knapp pers. comm.). Lortzing et al. (2016) reported nectar secretion from wounds in S. dulcamara L. and Sampaio et al. (2022) described reward-producing resin glands on petioles in S. fernandesii V. S. Sampaio & R. Moura, but neither instance represents production of sugar-rich nectar by dedicated organs. The seed dispersal mechanism for this species is unconfirmed. Young, fleshy, green fruits (Fig. 2 F) are mostly enclosed in a prickly calyx that gradually loosens as fruits move from yellow when ripe to later becoming creamy-white, dry, and very light in weight with the texture of firm polystyrene foam (Fig. 2 D, G). These lighter fruits with their prickly calyces attached are shed by the plants as apparent trample-burr diaspores, suggesting that endozoochory is less likely than ectozoochory (see Symon 1979; Martine et al. 2019; Motter 2025). Apparently germinable seed, chestnut-brown to black in color in dried-out fallen fruit, was also noted in attached ripened, lemon-yellow, fleshy fruits (Martine 5800 type collection), suggesting that effective seed dispersal could also happen at this stage. However, seeds within attached green fruits still firmly enclosed in the calyx were white to tan and appeared to be immature. Localized S. nectarifolium recruitment and persistence appears closely tied to fire frequency, given observations made at Winnecke Hills by the group in 2025 and by K. Brennan in 2021. In 2021, plants were abundant west of the Lajamanu Road, where fires had occurred a few years prior, and were compact, densely-branching, and vigorously reproductive (flowers and fruits) plants; east of the road, where fires were very recent, live plants were not conspicuous. In 2025, the eastern populations consisted of hundreds of even-aged mature plants (post-fire recruits from 2021) approaching senescence, and almost no living plants were seen to the west, soon after a new fire that appeared to have killed all mature plants. Because the flammability of habitats in the region is determined mostly by the presence and maturity of Triodia grasses, persistence of S. nectarifolium appears to be aligned with the burning cycle of Triodia. Mature Triodia is highly flammable but regenerates slowly once burnt, requiring a few years for hummocks to grow to a point where they will effectively carry another fire. As an apparent obligate seeder (not a re-sprouter), S. nectarifolium probably re-establishes from the seedbank in the next season after a fire with adequate rainfall and reaches peak flowering and fruiting during the 1 – 2 years when Triodia fuel is building up. In subsequent years, as the Triodia around it becomes increasingly vulnerable to another burn, S. nectarifolium (if not burnt) continues to produce diminishing amounts of new seed before eventually senescing.	en	Martine, Christopher T., Brennan, Kym, Cantley, Jason T., Webb, Aiden T., Newton, Geoffrey (2025): A new dioecious bush tomato, Solanum nectarifolium (Solanaceae), from the northern Tanami Desert, Northern Territory, Australia, with reassessment of S. ossicruentum and a change in the circumscription of S. dioicum. PhytoKeys 268: 183-199, DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.268.169893
FBF66E47314752289A81452004105DBC.taxon	etymology	Etymology. The epithet nectarifolium is chosen based on the presence of its conspicuous foliar extrafloral nectaries (Fig. 3), a character apparently unique among the 1200 + species of Solanum. We suggest the use of Tanami Bush Tomato for the English-language common name of the species in recognition of the Tanami region where all collections have been made and to maintain a connection to the historically-applied “ Tanami form ” name. We also suggest the English-language common name for Solanum ossicruentum as Bloodbone Bush Tomato, the name “ bloodbone tomato ” having been widely used in media coverage when that species was described.	en	Martine, Christopher T., Brennan, Kym, Cantley, Jason T., Webb, Aiden T., Newton, Geoffrey (2025): A new dioecious bush tomato, Solanum nectarifolium (Solanaceae), from the northern Tanami Desert, Northern Territory, Australia, with reassessment of S. ossicruentum and a change in the circumscription of S. dioicum. PhytoKeys 268: 183-199, DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.268.169893
