Solanum multiflorum Roth, Syst. Veg., ed. 15 bis [Roemer & Schultes] 4: 669. 1819.

Aubriot, Xavier & Knapp, Sandra, 2022, A revision of the " spiny solanums " of Tropical Asia (Solanum, the Leptostemonum Clade, Solanaceae), PhytoKeys 198, pp. 1-270 : 1

28. Solanum multiflorum Roth, Syst. Veg., ed. 15 bis [Roemer & Schultes] 4: 669. 1819.

Figs 3B , 45

Solanum agreste Roth in Roem. & Schult., Syst. Veg., ed. 15 bis [Roemer & Schultes] 4: 669. 1819. Type. India. "H. in India orientali. B. Heyne" 29 Jun 1816, B. Heyne s.n. (neotype, designated by Turner 2021, pg. 417: K-W [K00116650, shoot mounted in lower left only]).

Solanum multiflorum Roth, Nov. Sp. Pl. 129. 1821, nom. illeg. non Solanum multiflorum Roth in Roem. & Schultes, 1819. Type. Based on same material as S. multiflorum Roth ex Roem. & Schult.

Solanum agreste Roth, Nov. Pl. Sp. 130. 1821, nom. illeg. non S. agreste Roth in Roem. & Schult., 1819. Type. Based on same material and homotypic with S. agreste Roth in Roem. & Schult. (isonym).

Solanum himalense Dunal var. soumbe Dunal, Prodr. [A. P. de Candolle] 13(1): 300. 1852. Type. India. Tamil Nadu: "Nilgiris, Mts. de Nellygerry" [Nilgiri mountains], J.B.L. Leschenault de la Tour 163 (lectotype, designated here: P [P00055586]; isolectotypes: P [P00055587, P00055588]).

Solanum erosum Van Heurck & Müll.Arg., Observ. Bot. (Van Heurck) 83. 1870. Type. India. Tamil Nadu: Nilgiris, "in montibus Nilagiri", R.F. Hohenacker 1074 (lectotype, designated here: BR [AWH10071571]; isolectotypes: BM [BM000778310, BM000778311], E [E00196408], G [G00442714], K [K000014858], L [L, L], LE [LE00016194], P [P00055723, P00055724, P00055725, P00055726], W [acc. # 0003339).

Solanum indicum L. var. multiflorum (Roth) C.B.Clarke, Fl. Brit. India [J. D. Hooker] 4: 235. 1883. Type. Based on Solanum multiflorum Roth

Solanum indicum L. subsp. erosum (Van Heurck & Müll.Arg.) Bitter, Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 16: 11. 1923. Type. Based on Solanum erosum Van Heurck & Müll.Arg.

Solanum anguivi Lam. var. multiflorum (Roth) Vajr., Fl. Tamil Nadu Ind., Ser I: Analysis 2: 115. 1987, as " multiflora ". Type. Based on Solanum multiflorum Roth

Solanum violaceum Ortega subsp. multiflorum (C.B.Clarke) K.M.Matthew, Kew Bull. 46: 545. 1991. Type. Based on Solanum multiflorum Roth

Type.

India. ["H. in India orientali. B. Heyne " protologue] "Peninsula Ind. orientalis" [1836], herb. R. Wight prop. 1575 (neotype, designated by Turner 2021, pg. 418: K-W [K000759413]; probable isoneotypes: CAL, E [E00757306, E00617617, E00617618, E00617619, E00617621), NY [NY00825634], P [P00049971, P00055603, P03933610] ).

Description.

Erect shrub, 2-3 m, armed, much branched. Stems erect, robust, terete, densely stellate-pubescent and prickly, the trichomes porrect-stellate, sessile or short-stalked, the stalks to 0.8 mm long, the rays 6-8, 0.1-0.5 mm long, the midpoints to 2 mm long, the prickles to 10 mm long, to 6 mm wide, straight to slightly curved, flattened, orange-brown, glabrous or bearing a few stellate trichomes; new growth densely stellate-pubescent with trichomes like those of the stems; bark of older stems somewhat glabrescent, grey-brown. Sympodial units difoliate, the leaves geminate. Leaves simple, more or less deeply lobed, the blades 5-20 cm long, 3.5-16 cm wide, ca. 1.5 times longer than wide, ovate, chartaceous, discolorous, unarmed or prickly with up to 20 straight prickles to 10 mm long on primary and secondary veins on both sides of the leaf; adaxial surface densely to sparsely stellate-pubescent, with sessile to stalked porrect-stellate trichomes, the stalks to 0.8 mm, the rays 6-8, 0.2-0.8 mm, the midpoints 0.7-2 mm long; abaxial surface densely stellate-pubescent with sessile and short-stalked trichomes like those of the adaxial surface; major veins 3-5 pairs; base cuneate to truncate, often oblique; margins shallowly to deeply lobed, the lobes 3(4) on each side, 1.5-5 cm long, broad-deltate to obovate, often with well-developed secondary lobes, apically acute to rounded, the sinuses extending 1/3-4/5 to the midrib; apex acute; petioles 1-4 cm, 1/6-1/3 of the leaf length, unarmed or with a few straight prickles, densely stellate-pubescent with porrect sessile and short-stalked trichomes like those of the stems. Inflorescences 3-7 cm long, apparently lateral, unbranched or forked, more rarely several times branched, with 10-20 flowers, 3-6 flowers open at any one time, densely stellate-pubescent with stellate-porrect trichomes like those of the stems, unarmed or with a few straight prickles; peduncle 1-5 mm long, usually unarmed; pedicels 0.5-1.5 cm long, stout, ca. 1 mm in diameter at the base, ca. 1.5 mm in diameter at the apex, strongly recurved at anthesis, unarmed, densely stellate-pubescent like the inflorescence axes, articulated at the base; pedicel scars spaced 1-2 mm apart. Buds globose to ovoid, strongly exserted from the calyx before anthesis. Flowers 5-merous, apparently all perfect. Calyx with the tube 2-6 mm long, obconical to cup-shaped, the lobes 2-6 mm long, 1.5-2 mm wide, long-deltate, apically long-acuminate, unarmed or with a few straight prickles, densely stellate-pubescent with porrect-stellate trichomes like those of the pedicels. Corolla 1.3-1.5 cm in diameter, violet to purple, stellate, lobed ca. 2/3 of the way to the base, interpetalar tissue somewhat present, the lobes 4.5-6 mm long, 2.5-3 mm, deltate to ovate, spreading at anthesis, glabrous adaxially but with a few minute stellate trichomes at the tips and on the midribs, densely stellate-pubescent abaxially, the trichomes porrect, a mixture of sessile and stalked, the stalks up to 0.1 mm, the rays 6-8, 0.1-0.3 mm, the midpoints to 0.8 mm long, longer towards lobe apices. Stamens equal; anthers 3.5-4 mm, ca. 1.5 mm wide, tapering, drying brown to red-brown, sometimes with pronounced papillae on the dorsal surface, poricidal at the tips, the pores not elongating to slits with drying; filament tube minute; free portion of the filaments 0.5-1 mm, glabrous. Ovary conical, densely stellate-pubescent in the upper 3/4-1/2; style 5.5-7 mm long, stellate-pubescent for almost all of its length; stigma clavate, the surfaces minutely papillose. Fruit a globose berry, many per infructescence, 0.6-0.9 cm in diameter, orange-red to dark brown when ripe, the pericarp thin, smooth and shiny, with stellate trichomes sparsely covering the fruit pericarp persisting into maturity; fruiting pedicels 1-1.3 cm long, 0.7-1.5 mm wide at the base, 1.7-2.5 mm in diameter at the apex, woody, thick, strongly recurved downwards, unarmed or prickly with up to 5 filiform straight prickles; fruiting calyx moderately accrescent, elongating to (3.5-)5-11 mm long, covering up to 1/3 of the mature berry, usually not reflexed, unarmed or prickly with up to 10 straight prickles. Seeds ca. 10-15 per berry, 2.5-3.7 mm long, 2.1-3 mm wide, flattened-reniform, orange-brown, the surface minutely pitted, the testal cells pentagonal to slightly sinuate in outline. Chromosome number: n = 12, 2n = 24 ( Madhavadian 1968; Kirti and Rao 1983; both as Solanum indicum var. multiflorum Clarke).

Distribution

(Fig. 46 ). Solanum multiflorum is endemic to the western part of Tamil Nadu Province in southern India, occurring in the Nilgiri, Coimbatore, Didingul and Madurai districts.

Ecology and habitat.

Solanum multiflorum is a plant of deciduous or evergreen broadleaf forests and grows in forest edges and roadsides; from 1,700 to 2,300 m elevation.

Common names and uses.

India. Karnataka: kahi sunde (Hosagoudar 96871); Tamil Nadu: soumbé (Leschenault de la Tour 163). Some of the names attributed to S. indicum in floras may refer to this species.

Preliminary conservation status

( IUCN 2019). Least Concern (LC). EOO (669,122 km2, LC); AOO (324 km2, EN). Solanum multiflorum is a species of disturbed habitats in southern India, with many recent collections. It is not of particular conservation concern.

Discussion.

Solanum multiflorum was treated as a variety of " Solanum indicum " (now a suppressed name, see Suppressed Names) in various Indian floras, in part due to issues with the application of Roth’s name. It is morphologically similar and related to S. violaceum (the name now used for the suppressed S. indicum ), both taxa are members of S. violaceum group of Aubriot et al. (2016a), along with S. hovei and S. deflexicarpum . Solanum multiflorum is sympatric with S. violaceum and can be distinguished from it in its usually branched inflorescences with congested pedicels, long, soft pubescence and its short fruiting pedicels that are strongly deflexed rather than widely spreading. The leaves of S. multiflorum are usually more deeply lobed than those of S. violaceum , but S. violaceum is extremely variable and this does not always hold. Solanum multiflorum shares the strongly deflexed fruiting pedicels with S. deflexicarpum of China but differs from that species in its more copious pubescence, more deeply lobed leaves and usually purple (rather than white) flowers.

The species names proposed by Albrecht Wilhelm Roth were published in 1819 by Roemer and Schultes (1819), two years before they were published by Roth himself ( Roth 1821). Descriptions in Roemer and Schultes (1819) are abbreviated from Roth’s longer ones published in 1821; no new material was apparently seen (see Turner 2021). Material at Edinburgh from Robert Wight’s personal herbarium (here as probable isoneotypes) is in better condition than the sheet (K000759413) in the Wallich hebarium designated as the neotype. The numbering of Wight’s herbarium was done after the fact specimens bearing the same number may or may not be duplicates of the neotype.

Solanum himalense var. soumbe was described based on the collection Leschenault de la Tour 163 seen by Dunal (1852) in Paris. From the three specimens with this number at P we have selected the specimen (P00055586) with an annotation in Dunal’s hand as the lectotype.

The collection Hohenacker 1074 was cited from two herbaria ("hb. Van Heurck et hb. DC") in the protologue of S. erosum (Van Heurck 1870). The Van Heurck herbarium, previously held in Antwerp at AWH, has now been acquired by BR, but sheets are still barcoded with the AWH herbarium code. We have selected the duplicate of Hohenacker 1074 held in BR (AWH10071571) as the lectotype for S. erosum ; this collection is widely distributed.

Specimens examined.

See Suppl. materials 1-3.

Figures

Figure 3. Diversity of inflorescences and flowers in tropical Asian spiny solanums A lax, spreading inflorescences and stellate flowers of Solanum violaceum (Sampath Kumar et al. 126945, India) B condensed, recurved inflorescences and stellate flowers of S. multiflorum (Sampath Kumar et al. 126950, India) C inflorescences and large stellate flowers of S. involucratum (field photograph, unvouchered, Vietnam) D inflorescences and stellate flowers of S. pubescens with unequal stamens, one long and recurved (Sampath Kumar et al. 126956, India) E large rotate flower of S. insanum with abundant interpetalar corolla tissues (Sampath Kumar et al. 126918, India) F many flowered inflorescence and infructescence of S. pseudosaponaceum (field photograph, unvouchered, Philippines) G many flowered inflorescences of S. torvum; flowers with well-developed interpetalar corolla tissues (Suksathan et al. PS 3815, Thailand) H small stellate flowers of S. viarum (Sampath Kumar et al. 126944, India). Photograph credits: A, B, D, E, H X. Aubriot C M. Nuraliev F D. Tandang G D. Pedersen.

Figure 45. Solanum multiflorum Roth A herbarium specimen collected in India in 1835 (Wight 1575, E 00757306) B habit (Sampath Kumar et al. 126950, India) C detail view of a fruit with seeds (Sampath Kumar et al. 126958, India) D detail view of a calyx and floral buds (Sampath Kumar et al. 126937, India) E detail view of an infructescence (Sampath Kumar et al. 126950, India). Photograph credits: A Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh B-E X. Aubriot.

Figure 46. Distribution of S. multiflorum.