Solanum villosum Mill. 1768

Sennikov, Alexander & Lazkov, Georgy, 2022, The first checklist of alien vascular plants of Kyrgyzstan, with new records and critical evaluation of earlier data. Contribution 2, Biodiversity Data Journal 10, pp. 80804-80804 : 80804

Solanum villosum Mill. 1768

Solanum villosum Mill., Gard. Dict., ed. 8: Solanum no. 2 (1768).

Solanum villosum Solanum luteum Solanum

Solanum villosum Solanum olgae

Solanum villosum Solanum pseudoflavum

Diagnosis

Calyx lobes strongly reflected ( Särkinen et al. 2018); fruits yellow, orange-red or dark red (Fig. 26 ); foliage green ( Kovalevskaya 1987).

Distribution

Native distribution

Southern Europe, Mediterranean, Southern Asia from Asia Minor to China, Africa. In Central Asia, the species is considered native in Turkmenistan, where it was recorded abundantly from riversides in the mountains (as Solanum nigrum s.l.: Pojarkova 1954b).

Secondary distribution

Archaeophyte in Boreal and Central Europe, Northern and Central Asia and South Africa; neophyte in North America and Australia.

Distribution in Central Asia

Native in Turkmenistan, alien in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.

Similarly to Solanum nigrum , we consider S. villosum as alien in Central Asia north of Turkmenistan because of its occurring exclusively on cultivated lands or in ruderal habitats ( Spota 1960, Kovalevskaya 1987). Pojarkova (1955a) considered riversides as a native habitat of the species in the southern part of Central Asia.

Distribution in Kyrgyzstan

Western Tian-Shan, Northern Tian-Shan, Alay-Turkestan (Fig. 27 ).

The species occurs in major agricultural territories: the Fergana Depression, the Chü Depression and the Ysyk-Köl Depression ( Spota 1960, Lazkov and Sultanova 2014). It was collected at altitudes between 600 and 1800 m above sea level.

Ecology

Forest margins and riversides in the native distribution area; disturbed open places, cultivated lands, ruderal places, riversides in the secondary distribution area.

Biology

Annual or short-lived perennial, with a taproot and numerous lateral roots.

Taxon discussion

Pojarkova (1955a) and Pojarkova (1955b) subdivided Solanum villosum in Central Asia into three narrowly defined species. Besides S. luteum , which Pojarkova recognised as a densely glandular variant, the plants without glandular pubescence were treated as S. pseudoflavum (leaves larger, subentire) and S. olgae (leaves smaller, repandly dentate). The latter two have already been synonymised by Spota (1960) and Kovalevskaya (1961).

The densely glandular variant occurs in scattered localities in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan ( Kovalevskaya 1987).

Notes

Solanum villosum seems to be an evolutionary derivative of S. americanum Mill. ( Poczai and Hyvönen 2010). Both species are edible and used by humans throughout their ranges ( Särkinen et al. 2018). Solanum americanum is native to the New World but distributed as native also in the tropical and subtropical Old World, i.e. Africa, India, Malesia and Australia; this distribution indicates that S. americanum may have been human-dispersed from the New World in prehistorical times, similarly to (or together with) Datura metel L. ( Geeta and Gharaibeh 2007). Since S. villosum may have originated directly from S. americanum by autoallopolyploidisation ( Poczai and Hyvönen 2010), its ancient cultigenous origin and human-mediated dispersal is quite likely.

Introduction to Kyrgyzstan

Period of introduction

Archaeophyte.

This species was known from the whole of Central Asia from the beginning of its botanical exploration ( Pojarkova 1955b). The time of its introduction is uncertain.

Pathways of introduction

Escape from confinement: Agriculture.

The species is especially abundant in Southern Europe, Central and Southern Asia and Africa, where it has been traditionally used as a fruit or leaf vegetable ( Cherniakovskaya 1935, Pojarkova 1955a, Baranov 1967, Defelice 2003, Njau Mwai et al. 2007, Särkinen et al. 2018). It was known in Chinese cultivation in the Russian Far East during the 19th century ( Schischkin 1936). For this reason, we assume that the species was introduced intentionally as a cultivated plant, rather than unintentionally as a weed. Its current weedy status seems to be secondary.

Further dispersal occurs with water, contaminated seed and soil, in the same way as Solanum nigrum .

Invasion status

Naturalised. The species was noted as a weed in gardens and on fields, locally common but seemingly not truly noxious ( Spota 1960).

Evidence of impact

Agriculture - major impact (locally common weed of crops, in fields and gardens). Native ecosystems - minor impact (occurring along streams and water bodies near populated places). Urban areas - moderate impact (ruderal occurrence).

Trend

Stable (inferred).

Figures

Figure 26. Solanum villosum in flower and fruit in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (photo by T. Tillaev, 16 November 2011). Source: https: // www. plantarium. ru / page / image / id / 434617. html (Plantarium 2021).

Figure 27. Distribution of Solanum villosum in Kyrgyzstan.