Lycianthes glabripetala E.Dean, Phytologia 100: 28, 2018

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

17 Lycianthes glabripetala E.Dean, Phytologia 100: 28, 2018 Fig. 40

Type.

Mexico. Querétaro: Mpio. Landa, 10 km al noreste de Agua Zarca, sobre camino a Neblinas, 1100 m, 23 Jun 1988, J. Rzedowski 46837 (holotype: DAV [acc. # 217731]; isotypes: IEB [acc. # 193504], TEX [00449100]).

Description.

Perennial herb to small shrub, 0.5-2 m tall. Indument of off-white to tan, uniseriate, multicellular, simple, acute, curved to crisped, eglandular, appressed-ascending (rarely spreading) trichomes, 0.25-1.25 mm long. Stems green when young, moderately to densely pubescent, somewhat compressed upon drying in a plant press, light brown and woody with age; upper sympodial branching points usually monochasial with a few dichasial branching points. Leaves simple, the leaves of the upper sympodia usually paired and unequal in size, the larger ones with blades (4.5) 8.5-14 × (1.8) 2.5-5 cm, ovate to elliptic, the smaller ones with blades 1.3-4.5 × 0.8-2.1 cm, usually ovate, the blades of both the large and small leaves chartaceous, moderately to densely pubescent, the pubescence densest along the veins of the abaxial side, the trichomes along the midvein of the abaxial side appressed and appearing woolly, the base cuneate, usually oblique (sometimes rounded in the smaller leaves), the margin entire, usually delicately undulate, the apex acute to acuminate, the petiole 0.1-1.5 cm long, sometimes absent, the large leaf blades with (6) 8-11 primary veins on each side of the midvein. Flowers often solitary, sometimes in groups of 2-3, axillary, oriented horizontally to nodding; peduncles absent; pedicels 9-15 mm long and arching in flower, 12-20 mm long and arching in fruit, moderately to densely pubescent; calyx 2-2.5 mm long, 2.5-3 mm in diameter, obconic to narrowly campanulate, moderately pubescent, the margin truncate to undulate, with 5-10 narrow, linear, spreading appendages 0.5-2 mm long emerging 0.25-0.5 mm below the calyx rim; fruiting calyx slightly enlarged, widely bowl-shaped to plate-shaped, 1-2 mm long, 4-6 mm in diameter, the appendages withering in age; corolla 1-1.2 cm long, campanulate to reflexed in orientation, stellate in outline, divided nearly to the base, interpetalar tissue present near base, white, adaxial markings unknown, sparsely pubescent on abaxial surface along the midvein; stamens equal, straight, the filaments 0.75-1 mm long, glabrous, the anthers ca. 3 mm long, lanceolate, somewhat narrowed at the tip (the narrowed portion ca. 0.25 mm long), free of one another, color unknown, glabrous, poricidal at the tip, the pores ovate, dehiscing distally, not opening into longitudinal slits; pistil with glabrous ovary, the style ca. 8 mm long, linear, glabrous, widened distally into the stigma; stigma capitate, decurrent down two sides. Fruit a berry, 3.2-8 mm long, 3.1-7 mm in diameter, globose, orange at maturity, glabrous, lacking sclerotic granules. Seeds 30-60 per fruit, 1-1.2 × 0.5-1 mm, compressed but not flat, sometimes with one shallow ridge, semi-circular, depressed ovate, triangular, or rhombic in outline, orange, the surface reticulum with serpentine pattern and shallow luminae.

Chromosome number.

Unknown.

Distribution and habitat.

Mexico ( Querétaro, Veracruz) in tropical dry forest and cloud forest, including Quercus , Carpinus , and Liquidambar forest, in shady canyons and on slopes, sometimes on limestone, 1040-1450 m in elevation (Fig. 41 ).

Common names and uses.

None known.

Phenology.

Flowering specimens have been collected in June; specimens with mature fruits have been collected in January, July, and October. The timing of the corolla movements is not known, but since the corollas on the specimens of this species are open, the flowers are probably open during the day, as in the morphologically similar Lycianthes amatitlanensis (Coult. & Donn.Sm.) Bitter.

Preliminary conservation status.

Lycianthes glabripetala is a rarely collected species of endangered cloud forest habitat of central Mexico, represented by only six collections, two of which are from a protected area (Sierra Gorda). The EOO is 8,363.379 km2, and the AOO is 24 km2. Based on the IUCN (2019) criteria, the preliminary assessment category is Vulnerable (VU).

Discussion.

Lycianthes glabripetala is an endemic Mexican species morphologically similar to L. amatitlanensis (of Mexico and Central America), L. inconspicua (of Central America), and L. inaequilatera (of Central and South America). Lycianthes glabripetala differs from those species in combining woolly curved trichomes on the abaxial side of the leaves, a relatively large corolla (to 1.2 cm long), nearly glabrous surfaces on the abaxial side of the corolla lobes, and a pedicel length of 9-15 mm in flower and 12-20 mm in fruit. Lycianthes amatitlanensis usually has straight trichomes that project at a 90-degree angle from the midvein of the abaxial leaf surface, corollas 0.5-0.8 cm long, and very evident long trichomes on the abaxial side of the corolla lobes with these trichomes usually tufted at the tip of the lobe. Lycianthes inconspicua Bitter can have flowers as long as L. glabripetala , and has variable pubescence on the abaxial side of the corolla lobes, but it has longer pedicels (15-30 mm in flower and 30-35 mm in fruit) and delicate straight trichomes that are tightly appressed to the midvein of the abaxial leaf surface; it also differs in having oval anthers. Lycianthes inaequilatera has smaller corollas and has pubescence much like L. inconspicua , and it occurs far south of the range of L. glabripetala ( Dean et al. 2018b).

Lycianthes glabripetala is known at this time from the highlands of central Mexico in the states of Querétaro and Veracruz in cloud forest vegetation above 1000 m in elevation; this habitat is similar to that of L. inconspicua but differs from the most common habitat of L. amatitlanensis , a species that is usually found below 1000 m in elevation, often below 500 m, in humid tropical forest.

Representative specimens examined.

Mexico. Querétaro: 1 km al sureste de El Naranjo, [21.2421, -99.1014], 1050 m, 24 Jul 1989 H. Rubio 909 (IEB, DAV). Veracruz: Mpio. Zontecomatlán, along Huayacocotla-Zontecomatlán road, 1 km NE of San Antonio Ixtatetla, 20.7, -98.3833, 1300 m, 27 Apr 1983, M. Nee 26820 (NY, XAL).

Figures

Figure 40. Image of holotype of L. glabripetala, Rzedowski 46837 (DAV). Image used with permission of the UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity.

Figure 41. Map of geographic distribution of L. glabripetala based on herbarium specimen data.