Lycianthes armentalis J.L.Gentry, Phytologia 26: 269. 1973

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

4 Lycianthes armentalis J.L.Gentry, Phytologia 26: 269. 1973 Fig. 12

Type.

Mexico. Quintana Roo: Cobá, east of the ruins, in advanced deciduous forest, [20.4800, -87.7300], 1 Jun 1938, C.L. & A.A. Lundell 7800 (holotype: US [00027868]; isotypes: A [00936248], F [0072898F, acc. # 1307280], US [01014254, 01014255]).

Description.

Clambering shrub to vine, 0.5-4 (7) m tall. Indument of pale yellow to orange-brown, uniseriate, multicellular, sessile to stalked, multangulate-stellate, eglandular, spreading trichomes 0.1-0.75 mm long, 0.2-0.5 mm in diameter, the rays (3) 5-8 (10) per whorl, straight, rarely rebranched, often with an enlarged sphere where the rays join, rarely some dendritically branched trichomes also present. Stems green to light brown when young, sparsely to densely pubescent (appearing like dense felt), not compressed when dried in a plant press, becoming woody early; upper sympodial branching points a mixture of monochasial and dichasial branching, the branching divaricate (diverging at wide angles). Leaves simple, the leaves of the upper sympodia paired or not, the leaves often appearing like they terminate short shoots with the pairs arranged at 90 degree angles, the pairs unequal in size, the larger ones with blades 3-9 (13) × 2-4.5 (7) cm, the smaller ones (often not developing) with blades 0.9-2.5 × 0.8-2 cm, the leaf pairs similar in shape, the blades ovate, elliptic, obovate, or suborbicular, thick chartaceous, sparsely to moderately pubescent (denser on the abaxial side, especially along the veins, the adaxial side sometimes nearly glabrous), the base cuneate to rounded, sometimes oblique, the margin entire, usually irregularly undulate, the apex rounded, obtuse, acute or acuminate, the petiole 0.3-1.2 cm long, the larger leaf blades with 3-5 primary veins on each side of the midvein. Flowers solitary or in groups of 2-6, axillary, erect; peduncles absent; pedicels 6-13 (20) mm long and erect in flower, 9-25 mm long and erect in fruit, moderately pubescent; calyx 2.5-3 mm long, 3-4 mm in diameter, campanulate, moderately pubescent, the margin truncate, with 10 spreading linear appendages 0.5-3.5 mm long emerging ca. 0.3 mm below the calyx rim; fruiting calyx enlarged, widely bowl-shaped to rotate, 2-4 mm long, 6-10 mm in diameter, the appendages to 5 mm long; corolla 0.8-1.2 cm long, campanulate to rotate in orientation, stellate in outline (divided ca. 1/4-1/2of the way to the base), with abundant interpetalar tissue, white, with a few scattered trichomes on the adaxial side of the lobes near the major veins, sparsely to moderately puberulent on the lobes near the major veins abaxially; stamens slightly to very unequal, straight, the four short filaments 0.5-1 (1.5) mm long, the one long filament 1-2 (3) mm long, glabrous, the anthers 3-4 mm long, elliptic to lanceolate, free of one another, yellow, sparsely pubescent on the inner face, poricidal at the tips, the pores ovate, terminal, dehiscing distally, not opening into longitudinal slits; pistil with glabrous ovary, the style 7-8 mm long, linear, straight to curved, glabrous, the stigma oblong, decurrent down two sides. Fruit a berry, 5-12 mm long, 5-12 mm in diameter, globose, red-orange when mature, glabrous, lacking sclerotic granules. Seeds 20-30 per fruit, 2.5-3 × 2-2.5 mm, flattened, circular to depressed ovate in outline, thickened on the edges, thin and semi-transparent in the center, yellow to dark orange, the surface reticulum in the center nearly smooth, the edges with minute serpentine pattern with shallow luminae.

Chromosome number.

Unknown.

Distribution and habitat.

Mexico (the Yucatán Peninsula, including Campeche, Quintana Roo, Yucatán), Guatemala (El Progreso, Petén), and Belize, in forest (often secondary), usually in tropical rain forest, tropical moist forest, or tropical dry forest, sometimes on limestone, 0-500 m in elevation (Fig. 13 ).

Common names and uses.

None known.

Phenology.

Flowering specimens have been collected from May to October; specimens with mature fruits have been collected June to March. The timing of the diurnal corolla movements for this species are not known, but many specimens have been collected with closed flowers indicating that the flowers are open for a limited period during the day, probably in the early morning.

Preliminary conservation status.

Lycianthes armentalis is a widespread species ranging from southeastern Mexico to Belize represented by 116 collections and occurring in seven protected areas; unfortunately, the habitat of this species is vulnerable. The EOO is 122,903.444 km2 (LC) and AOO is 404 km2 (EN). Based on the IUCN (2019) criteria, the preliminary assessment category is Least Concern (LC).

Discussion.

Lycianthes armentalis is often confused with L. sideroxyloides , L. rafatorresii , and L. scandens var. scandens (previously known as L. lenta (Cav.) Bitter). Lycianthes armentalis differs from those species in its combination of multangulate-stellate (not geminate-stellate) trichomes, widely divaricate branching, calyx appendages that are not enlarged at the tip, white, shallowly stellate corollas, and unequal stamens. Lycianthes sideroxyloides has geminate-stellate trichomes, appendages that are enlarged at the tip, deeply stellate corollas, and equal stamens. Lycianthes scandens var. scandens has purple, mostly entire corollas and lacks widely divaricate branching. Lycianthes rafatorresii has similar flowers and trichomes to L. armentalis but lacks widely divaricate branching and has calyx appendages that are enlarged at the tip. Lycianthes armentalis occurs at relatively low elevations on the Yucatán Peninsula, a distribution that overlaps with L. scandens var. scandens , but not the other two species.

Representative specimens examined.

Guatemala. El Progreso: Tulumaje, [14.9256, -90.0469], 346 m, 23 Nov 2003, R. Ávila 71 (BIGU). Petén: Mpio. Melchor de Mencos, sitio arqueológico El Naranjo, 17.1319, -95.2606, 297 m, 18 Jun 2009, L. Velásquez 413 (BIGU). Mexico. Campeche: a 2 km al E de X-Mejía, 19.2347, -89.3592, 150 m, 24 Jun 2005, E. Martínez- Salas 38011 (MEXU). Quintana Roo: camino a Zafarrancho, 0.73 km al N de Zafarrancho, 19.52, -88.8864, 91 m, 22 Aug 2005, E. Martínez-Salas 38092 (MEXU). Yucatán: carretera Noholal-Sudzal-Chico, 19.75, -89.25, 18 Nov 1992, F. May 766 (MEXU).

Figures

Figure 12. Image of herbarium specimen of L. armentalis, Cabrera 5160 (MO). Specimen used with permission from the Missouri Botanical Garden (http: // www. tropicos. org).

Figure 13. Map of geographic distribution of L. armentalis based on herbarium specimen data.