Lycianthes surotatensis Gentry, Brittonia 6 (3): 323. 1948

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

46 Lycianthes surotatensis Gentry, Brittonia 6 (3): 323. 1948 Fig. 104

Type.

Mexico. Sinaloa: Sierra Surotato, Las Mesas, 15 Sep 1941, H. S. Gentry 6620 (holotype: MICH [1109850]; isotypes: ARIZ [ARIZ-BOT-0005037], DES [DES00041687], MEXU, MO [acc. # 1217396], GH [00934884], NY [00138708]).

Description.

Shrub, (0.6) 1-3 m tall. Indument of off-white to tan (purple), uniseriate, multicellular, simple, glandular and eglandular, spreading to appressed trichomes 0.2-2.1 mm long. Stems pale green (drying tan) with dark lenticular vertical striations when young, moderately pubescent, not much compressed when dried in a plant press, becoming brown and woody with age; upper sympodial branching points dichasial and monochasial. Leaves simple, the leaves of the upper sympodia usually paired and unequal in size, the larger ones with blades 8.1-16.5 × 3.4-9.5 cm, the smaller ones with blades 1.6-7.8 × 0.6-4.2 cm, the leaf pairs similar in shape, the blades ovate to elliptic, thin-chartaceous, moderately pubescent, the base cuneate to attenuate, sometimes oblique, the margin entire, usually irregularly undulate (rarely remotely coarsely dentate), the apex acuminate, the petiole 0.7-2.2 cm long, sometimes absent, the larger leaf blades with 5-6 primary veins on each side of the midvein. Flowers solitary or in groups of 2-3 (5), axillary, oriented horizontally; peduncles absent; pedicels 9-33 mm long and erect in flower, 11-29 mm long and erect in fruit, moderately pubescent; calyx 2-4 mm long, 2.5-6 mm in diameter, widely obconic to widely campanulate, densely puberulent, the margin truncate, with 10 spreading linear appendages 2-10 mm long, emerging ca. 0.5 mm below the calyx rim; fruiting calyx enlarged, widely bowl-shaped to rotate, 1-2 (4) mm long, (3) 5-9 mm in diameter, the appendages 6-11 mm long (probably longer), 0.5-1 mm wide at the base, spreading; corolla 0.9-1.8 cm long, rotate in orientation, mostly entire in outline (with shallow notches), with abundant interpetalar tissue, adaxially white, sometimes with three green spots near the insertion of the stamen filaments, abaxially green and puberulent with purple trichomes near the major veins; stamens unequal, straight, the four short filaments 1-2 mm long, the one long filament 3.5-4.5 mm long, glabrous, the anthers 3.5-5 mm long, elliptic, lanceolate, or oblong, free of one another, yellow, glabrous, poricidal at the tips, the pores ovate, dehiscing distally, not opening into longitudinal slits; pistil with glabrous ovary, the style 7-10 mm long, linear, slightly curved, glabrous, the stigma capitate, decurrent down two sides, sometimes slightly bilobed. Fruit a berry, 4-11 mm long, 4-12 mm in diameter, globose to depressed globose, red at maturity, glabrous, lacking sclerotic granules. Seeds 40-137 per fruit, 1.75-2.25 × 1.5 mm, flattened, reniform to triangular in outline, tan, the surface reticulum with minute serpentine pattern and shallow luminae.

Chromosome number.

Unknown.

Distribution and habitat.

Mexico (Colima, Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacán, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Quéretaro, Sinaloa, and Sonora) in broadleaved forest, oak forest, pine-oak forest, tropical dry forest, and riparian forest (including Platanus gallery forest), 670-2200 m in elevation (Fig. 105 ).

Common names and uses.

None known.

Phenology.

Flowering specimens have been collected from March to December; specimens with mature fruits have been collected February to December. The first author observed in the field that the corollas are open in the morning and closed by afternoon.

Preliminary conservation status.

Lycianthes surotatensis is a locally common species with a disjunct distribution, ranging from central and western Mexico to southern Mexico, represented by 38 collections and occurring in two protected areas. The EOO is 497,854.619 km2, and the AOO is 132 km2. Based on the IUCN (2019) criteria, the preliminary assessment category is Least Concern (LC).

Discussion.

Lycianthes surotatensis is very similar to L. tricolor in its pedicel length and corolla size. It differs from that species in having unnotched seeds and glandular pubescence at least on the pedicels or calyx. In addition, the calyx length and calyx appendage length are usually longer in L. surotatensis . In the protologue for L. surotatensis , Gentry (1948) did not note the presence of glandular trichomes on the type specimen and concentrated instead on the dentate margins that are present on some of the leaves of the type specimen. However, the trichomes on the leaves, pedicels, and calyx of the type specimen are clearly glandular, and the character of the dentate leaf margins is not consistently present within the species and sometimes can occur in other species of series Tricolores ( Dean et al. 2017a). The disjunct distribution of this species, with an isolated group of populations in Querétaro, needs investigation.

Representative specimens examined.

Mexico. Colima: southwestern foothills of the Nevado de Colima, 1-1.5 miles above (S of) Hacienda San Antonio, [19.4285, -103.7194], 1200-1250 m, 11 Aug 1957, R. McVaugh 16084 (MEXU). Guerrero: Agua de Obispo, 17.3139, -99.4667, 1050 m, 17 Oct 1963, Kruse 1032 (IEB, MEXU, MO). Jalisco: Sierra del Halo, cañada La Jabalina, 12 km en línea recta al este de Pihuamo, 3.5 km al oeste de Alotitlan, 1750 m, 23 Feb 2012, A. Castro-Castro 2665 (XAL). Michoacán: Mpio. Coalcomán, approx. 4 km (en línea recta) al sur de Puerto La Bufa, 18.4622, -102.9881, 1750 m, 25 May 2008, Y. Ramírez-Amézcua 1320 (DAV). Nayarit: Mpio. Tepic, 1 km al SW de El Cuarenteño, camino a El Cora, o 4 km al N del entronque del camino El Cora-Palapitas, [21.4544, -105.0357], 820 m, 16 May 1994, G. Flores-Franco 3457 (MEXU). Oaxaca: Cerro Zapote, a 88 km en LR (325 N) de Santa María Zapotitlán, 16.12025, -95.8475, 1600 m, 15 Mar 2006, K. Velasco-Gutíerrez 1248 (MEXU). Querétaro: Mpio. Pinal de Amoles, La Cuesta, 3 km al S de Escanelilla, [21.1411, -99.5089] 1100 m, 14 Dec 1994, R. Fernández N. 2109 (MEXU). Sinaloa: Las Mesas, Sierra Surotato, [25.6496, -107.5702], 15 Sep 1941, H.S. Gentry 6620 (ARIZ, DES, MICH, MO, NY). Sonora: Río Mayo region, Arroya Tepopa, about 35 km NE of Alamos, "main fork"of canyon above confluence with "waterfall fork," above old ranch site, 27.3333, -108.7333, 1100 m, 16 Mar 1993, M. Fishbein 1040 (NY).

Figures

Figure 104. Image of herbarium specimen of L. surotatensis, Rzedowski 43384 (DAV). Image used with permission of the UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity.

Figure 105. Map of geographic distribution of L. surotatensis based on herbarium specimen data.