Lycianthes moziniana var. moziniana

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

30a Lycianthes moziniana var. moziniana Fig. 66

Solanum uniflorum Sessé ex Lag., Gen. Sp. Pl. [Lagasca]: 10. 1816. Type: Painting made during the Royal Botanical Expedition to New Spain (1787-1803) under the direction of Martín de Sessé y Lacasta (lectotype designated by Dean 1997, pg. 196: Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, catalogue number 6331.0025).

Solanum monanthum Roem. & Schult., Syst. Veg., ed. 15 bis [Roemer & Schultes]. 4: 608. 1819. Type: Based on Solanum uniflorum Sessé ex Lag.

Solanum mocinianum Dunal forma luteiflorum Dunal, Prodr. [A. P. de Candolle] 13(1): 164. 1852. Type: Based on Solanum uniflorum Sessé ex Lag.

Solanum uniflorum Moçiño & Sessé, Pl. Nov. Hisp.: 35. 1888. Type: Based on Solanum uniflorum Sessé ex Lag.

Description.

Perennial herb from fusiform storage roots, decumbent, ascending, to erect, usually recumbent with age, ca. 0.1-0.5 (0.9) m tall, dying back each season far beneath the soil surface. Indument of white, uniseriate, multicellular, simple, eglandular, spreading to appressed trichomes (0.1) 0.5-2 mm long, (in the state of Michoacán, these sometimes intermixed with forked or dendritically branched trichomes). Stems green to purple-green, moderately pubescent (rarely glabrate in age), compressed and ribbed when dried in a plant press, usually with little woody tissue; first stem (2) 5-35 (40) cm long to the first inflorescence, the internodes (3) 6-14 (21); first sympodial branching point usually dichasial, the subsequent sympodial branching points usually monochasial. Leaves simple, those of the upper sympodia usually paired and unequal in size, the larger ones with blades 2-10.5 × 0.8-4.2 cm, the smaller ones with blades 1/4-7/8 the size of the larger, the leaf pairs similar in shape, the blades obovate, elliptic, ovate, or lanceolate, chartaceous, moderately pubescent, the primary veins 5-7 on either side of the midvein, the base rounded to cuneate, the margin entire, usually undulate to irregularly angled, the apex rounded to acute, the petioles 0.1-0.5 cm long, sometimes absent. Flowers solitary, axillary, oriented horizontally; peduncles absent; pedicels (30) 50-150 (180) mm and erect in flower, 54-170 mm long (probably longer) and deflexed in fruit, moderately pubescent with trichomes of two distinct lengths, the smaller 0.1-0.3 mm and appressed, the longer 0.5-1.5 mm and mostly spreading, rarely only the longer trichomes present; calyx 3-5.5 mm long, 3.5-7 mm in diameter, campanulate, densely pubescent, the margin truncate, with 10 linear, lax appendages laying closely against the corolla 2-10 mm long emerging ca. 0.5-1 mm below the calyx rim; fruiting calyx enlarged, 4-11 mm long, 9-22.5 mm in diameter, the appendages appressed to fruit, often broken, to 11.5 mm long; corolla 1.3-3.6 cm long (2.9-6.8 cm in diameter), rotate in orientation, mostly entire in outline (with shallow notches), with abundant interpetalar tissue, lilac to dark purple (very rarely white or very pale lilac), with darker purple stripes along the major veins adaxially, green and moderately pubescent near the major veins abaxially; stamens unequal, straight, the filaments of three lengths, the two shortest filaments 1-4.5 mm long, the two medium filaments 1.5-5.5 mm long, the one long filament (2.5) 3-8.25 mm long, the length of the longest filament 1.2-2 times that of the medium filaments, glabrous, the anthers 4.5-8.5 mm long, elliptic to ovate, free of one another, yellow, glabrous, poricidal at the tips, the pores obovate, dehiscing distally or toward the style, not opening into longitudinal slits; pollen grains tricolporate; pistil with glabrous ovary, the style 8-14.5 mm, linear, straight to slightly curved, glabrous, the stigma round to slightly bilobed. Fruit a berry, remaining attached to calyx at maturity, pendent or lying on the ground, 14-41.5 mm long, 12-28 mm diameter, round to ovoid, the exocarp green, glabrous, the mesocarp area green, soft and juicy, lacking sclerotic granules, placental area green, soft and juicy. Seeds (10) 40-139 per fruit, 2.3-2.8 × 1.7-2.5 mm, rounded, slightly compressed, reniform to depressed-obovate brownish-black, the surface reticulum with minute serpentine pattern and shallow luminae.

Chromosome number.

2n = 24 ( Williams 1993); 2n = 24, Dean 300, 306 ( Dean 2004).

Distribution and habitat.

Mexico (Distrito Federal, Durango, Guanajato, Hidalgo, Jalisco, México, Michoacán, Nayarit, Puebla, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Tlaxcala, Veracruz, perhaps Zacatecas), mainly restricted to the volcanic soils of the transvolcanic belt in disturbed areas such as pastures, agricultural fields, along paths and roadsides, and in clearings in xerophilous schrub, oak and coniferous forest, 1600-3000 m in elevation (Fig. 67 ).

Common names and uses.

Mexico. Berenjena, berenjito, chumpin, chimpina, huevo de gato, tintolón, tilindon, tlanoxtle, tlanochtle, tlalnonochtle, shimpe, tilapó, tochin, la chichi, chochocuero, coyotomate, purga de las animas, xipes, mazatlatlaixtli ( Dean 2004). Used medicinally as a purgative in the state of México (Altimirano 72).

Phenology.

Flowering specimens have been collected June to October; specimens with mature fruit have been collected September to December. The first author observed in the field that the corollas open in the very early morning and close by noon. The pollen of this variety has a sweet scent. Solitary bees in the genus Thygator visit this species ( Dean 2001).

Preliminary conservation status.

Lycianthes moziniana var. moziniana is a common variety of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt of Mexico, represented by 181 collections and occurring in 12 Mexican protected areas. The EOO is 264,912.814 km2, and the AOO is 688 km2. Based on the IUCN (2019) criteria, the preliminary assessment category is Least Concern (LC).

Discussion.

Lycianthes moziniana var. moziniana is separated from closely related taxa by its combination of green fruits, small smooth seeds (without fibrils on cell walls), a tendency toward having only one dichasial or no dichasial branching points, very elongate pedicels, and abaxially pubescent corolla lobes. Variety moziniana is separated from the other varieties of the species in having fruiting calyx teeth that are lax in flower and stay appressed to the fruit, cuneate (rather than attenuate) leaf bases, relatively dense and long stem and leaf pubescence, consistently pubescent abaxial corolla lobes, and an affinity for the soils of the transvolcanic belt ( Dean 2004).

This “weedy” variety has had an intimate relationship with the people of Mexico and may owe its current distribution to humans, who are probably its primary dispersal agents. The fruit of L. moziniana var. moziniana is edible and in past decades was gathered for sale at markets. Some researchers believe this variety was once a domesticated plant that has since reverted to a weed of agricultural areas ( Williams 1993). It persists under traditional agricultural practices by sprouting from its underground root system as well as from seed dispersed by humans ( Williams 1993). With the advent of herbicide usage in agricultural fields, changes in field preparation techniques, and lack of usage by humans, this once plentiful variety is becoming rare in Mexico ( Dean 2004).

In some areas of Jalisco and Michoacán, where this variety grows with L. rzedowskii or L. acapulcensis , plants with intermediate trichome, leaf and floral color characteristics have been collected or observed. Limited crossing experiments indicate that L. moziniana var. moziniana is capable of crossing with L. moziniana var. oaxacana , although with reduced fertility; crosses between this variety and mature accessions of L. moziniana var. margaretiana have not yet been performed ( Dean 2004).

Representative specimens examined.

Mexico. Distrito Federal: Limbo, delegación de Álvaro Obregón, [19.3247, -99.2633], 2700 m, 4 Aug 1979, Á. Ventura A. 3477 (ENCB, F, MEX). Durango: 1 km al noroeste de Santa María Ocotán, Mezquital, [24.1, -104.6], 13 Jul 1984, M. González Espinosa 1378 (MEXU). Hidalgo: Mpio. Acatlán, small town of Los Reyes, ca. 9 rd. mi from Acatlán, along road to Huasca, NW of Tulancingo, [20.1888, -98.4489], 7200 ft, 21 Sep 1991, E. Dean 259 (DAV, IEB). Jalisco: 1 km al suroeste de Nueva Colonia, Santa Catarina, [22.1554, -104.1165], 2200 m, 20 Jul 1992, J.J. Reynoso-Dueñas 929 (IBUG, IEB). México: Valle de México, Cuajimalpa a Río Hondo, [19.4315, -99.2919], 2400 m, 9 Sep 1951, Matuda 21819 (MEXU). Michoacán: lado sureste del Cerro El Aguila, subiendo por el poblado de Huatzanguio, 19.6064, -101.3792, 2530 m, 14 Aug 2008, G. Cornejo-Tenorio 2840 (IEB). Nayarit: Sierra Madre, territory of Tepic, between Sta. Gertrudis and Sta. Teresa, [21.7167, -104.7333], 8 Aug 1897, Rose 2068 (GH). Puebla: Mpio. Xochiapulco, Rosa Chica, en un sitio llamado El Plan, cerca de la escuela primaria, 19.7950, -97.6568, 2041 m, 25 Jun 2015, M. Jiménez -Chimil 30760 (DAV). Querétaro: El Picacho, desviación San Pedro Tenango, 3 km al sureste de Amealco, [20.1374, -100.1152], 2650 m, 20 Jul 2003, V. Serrano-Serrano 121 (IEB). San Luis Potosí: chiefly in the region of San Luis Potosí, 6000-8000 ft, 1878, Parry 662 (GH, MO, NY [the K duplicate of this collection number is L. moziniana var. margaretiana ]). Tlaxcala: Mpio. Espanita, 0.95 rd mi from intersection with Hwy 136, along road to Espanita, [19.4931, -98.4599], 8920 ft, 28 Oct 1991, E. Dean 302 (DAV). Veracruz: camino a Zacatonal, 18.7869, -97.2767, 9 Jul 2013, A.F. Vargas-Rueda 637 (MEXU). Zacatecas: 2 km al oeste de Monte Escobedo, 22.3253, -103.5829, 2376 m, 28 Aug 2005, A. Rodríguez 4462 (IBUG).

Figures

Figure 66. Image of herbarium specimen of L. moziniana var. moziniana, Dean 216 (DAV). Image used with permission of the UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity.

Figure 67. Map of geographic distribution of L. moziniana var. moziniana based on herbarium specimen data.