Solanum dichroandrum Dunal, 1852

Knapp, Sandra, 2013, A revision of the Dulcamaroid Clade of Solanum L. (Solanaceae), PhytoKeys 22, pp. 1-432 : 92-96

13. Solanum dichroandrum Dunal , Prodr. [A.P. de Candolle] 13(1): 86. 1852 Figure 33

Solanum sanctaenevadae Dunal, Prodr. [A.P. de Candolle] 13(1): 678. 1852. Type: Colombia. "Venezuela, Mérida, Sa. Nevada", 8000, 1847, N. Funck & L.J. Schlim 1621 (holotype: G-DC [G00144896]; isotypes: BM [BM000849512], G [G00070229, F neg. 6742, IDC microfiche 800-61.2067:III.6], P [P00325803, Morton neg. 8183]).

Solanum dichroandrum Dunal var. glabrisculum Dunal, Prodr. [A.P. de Candolle] 13(1): 679. 1852. Type: Colombia. "Venezuela, Prov. de Mérida, Sa. [Sierra] Nevada", 8000 ft, Feb 1846, N. Funck & L. J. Schlim 1126 (holotype: G-DC [G00144978, IDC microfiche 800-61.2068:I.5]; isotypes: BM [BM000778190], G [G00070156], P [P00325804, Morton neg. 8181], P [P00325805], W).

Solanum endotrichum Bitter, Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 12: 161. 1913. Type: Colombia. Cundinamarca: Miquinquirá near Bogotá, Jul 1909, Bro. Idinaël 57 (holotype: MPU).

Solanum schlimii Bitter, Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 16: 85. 1919. Type: Colombia. Magdalena or Guajira: Prov. Río Hacha, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, 3100 m, L. Schlim [ “Linden”] 831 (lectotype, designated here: G [G0070139, Morton neg. 8553]; isolectotypes: BM [BM000887368], BR, G [G00070140, F neg. 23165; G00070216], P [P00371281, Morton neg. 8322]).

Type.

Venezuela. “Caracas”, 1842, J. Linden 433 (holotype: G [G00070155, F neg. 8583]; isotypes: BM [BM000778189], G [G00104266], K [K000545358, K000545359], P [P000326802, Morton neg. 8182]).

Description.

Woody vine to 8 m long. Stems flexuous and appearing somewhat warty from prominent leaf scars, almost glabrous to densely pubescent with loose dendritic trichomes 1-1.5 mm long, these with few, long branches; new growth sparsely to densely pubescent with loose transparent dendritic trichomes to 1.5 mm long. Bark of older stems pale brown or pale reddish brown, glabrescent. Sympodial units plurifoliate. Leaves simple, 3-7(-11.5) cm long, 1-3.5 cm wide, elliptic to narrowly elliptic, membranous, the upper surfaces glabrous with a few scattered dendritic trichomes along the veins to sparsely pubescent with loose dendritic trichomes to 0.5 mm long, these occasionally mixed with a few simple uniseriate trichomes of the same size, the lower surfaces almost glabrous to densely pubescent with loose dendritic trichomes on the veins and lamina, usually also with sparse glandular papillae on the lamina; primary veins 8-9 pairs, usually reddish brown beneath; base attenuate to acute; margins entire, not revolute; apex acute to acuminate; petioles 0.5-2 cm long, pubescent like the stems, in herbarium specimens usually drying darker and more pubescent adaxially, occasionally twining. Inflorescences terminal, 4-8 cm long, globose to depressed-elliptic in outline, many times branched, with 10-50 flowers, glabrous to pubescent with loose, dendritic trichomes like those of the stems; peduncle 0.3-1.2 cm long, usually branching very near the base; pedicels 1-1.5 cm long, slender, ca. 0.3 mm in diameter at the base, ca. 1 mm in diameter at the apex, glabrous to loosely pubescent with dendritic trichomes, spreading at anthesis, articulated at the base, leaving a swollen area on the axis; pedicel scars irregularly spaced 1-10 mm apart, the inflorescence rachis bent at the articulation points. Buds ellipsoid, the corolla strongly exserted from the calyx tube in early bud. Flowers apparently all perfect (although the type has no long-styled flowers), 5-merous. Calyx tube 1-2.5 mm long, conical, the lobes 1-1.5 mm long, deltate with thickened margins and an elongate apex, sparsely to densely pubescent with loose dendritic trichomes. Corolla (1.2)1.5-2.5 cm in diameter, white or white tinged with lilac, stellate, lobed ca. 3/4 of the way to the base, the lobes 7-10 mm long, 4-6 mm wide, planar at anthesis, densely papillate on the tips and margins, the papillae sometimes extending to the lobes abaxially. Filament tube minute, the free portion of the filaments 1-1.5 mm long, glabrous or minutely pubescent with simple uniseriate trichomes less than 0.2 mm long; anthers ca. 4 mm long, 1 mm wide, glabrous, ellipsoid, loosely connivent, yellow, poricidal at the tips, the pores lengthening to slits with age. Ovary glabrous; style 6-9 mm long, minutely puberulent with tiny simple uniseriate trichomes, these denser in the basal half; stigma capitate, the surface minutely papillose. Fruit a globose berry, ca. 2 cm in diameter, black when ripe, green when immature, dull and matte, glabrous, the pericarp thin; fruiting pedicels 1.5-2 cm long, ca. 1 mm in diameter at the base tapering to an apical diameter of 1.5-2 mm, woody and somewhat deflexed. Seeds 10-12 per berry, ca. 5 mm long, 4.5 mm wide, flattened-reniform, dark brown, the surfaces minutely pitted, the testal cells small and rectangular. Chromosome number: not known.

Distribution

( Figure 34 ). In northern South America in the coastal and western ranges of northern Colombia and Venezuela, extending to the Andes in Venezuela; 2200 to 3300 m.

Ecology.

Growing in cloud forests, probably in open areas.

Conservation status.

Least Concern (LC); EOO>100,000 km2 (LC) and AOO>10,000 km2 (LC). See Moat (2007) for explanation of measurements.

Discussion.

Solanum dichroandrum is very similar morphologically to a number of other Andean members of the Dulcamaroid clade such as Solanum sanchez-vegae , Solanum aureum and Solanum luculentum . It is most similar to Solanum sanchez-vegae , sharing with that species large flowers and loose dendritic pubescence. The two taxa differ in their seed number (with Solanum dichroandrum having twice as many of seeds), style pubescence (glabrous in Solanum sanchez-vegae , minutely puberulent in Solanum dichroandrum ), and in flower size, with Solanum dichroandrum having somewhat smaller flowers. The two taxa are not sympatric, and neither is Solanum dichroandrum sympatric with Solanum aureum , from which it differs in having larger flowers, looser leaf and stem pubescence and fewer seeded berries. Solanum dichroandrum is sympatric with Solanum luculentum , from which it differs in leaf and stem pubescence ( Solanum luculentum is completely glabrous), flower size and sex expression ( Solanum dichroandrum has perfect flowers, whereas Solanum luculentum is almost certainly dioecious).

Specimens collected in the Colombian Department of Norte de Santander around Vetas (Killip & Smith 17267, 17313, 17388, 17910, 17916) are very pubescent and have slightly smaller flowers than the type, but otherwise fall within the range of variation seen in Solanum dichroandrum .

In describing Solanum schlimii , Bitter cited both BR and the herbarium of Barbey-Boissier (now part of the general collections at G) in the protologue; the lectotype selected (G0070139) is the cited sheet from the Barbey-Boissier herbarium and is annotated by Bitter.

Specimens examined.

Colombia. Antioquia: San José de San Andrés, 1 May 1948, Correa V.& Velásquez V. 35 (US); Boyacá: Pauna, carretera a Muxo, Las Curcubitas, km 114-117, 2850 m, 12 Nov 1948, García-Barriga 13236 (US); Cesar: Páramo de Sabana Rubia, 3250 m, 22 Jul 1987, Cuadros 3726 (MO); Cundinamarca: Bogotá, 1919, Brother Ariste-Joseph A-418 (US); La Guajira: Cerro del Espejo, N slopes, Serrania de Perijá, Venezuela border, 2560 m, 28 Apr 1987, Gentry & Cuadros 57183 (MO); Magdalena: Quebrada de Floridablanca, east of Manaure, Sierra de Perijá, 2700 m, 10 Nov 1959, Cuatrecasas & Romero-Castañeda 25199 (F); Río Garaban, headwaters of Río Aracataca, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, 2860 m, 23 Jul 1944, Kernan 159 (US); Mamancanaca, and vicinity, 3300 m, 27 May 1977, White & Alverson 611 (MO); Norte de Santander: Cerro de Oroque, limites entre los Departmentos Norte de Santander y Cesar, Cordillera Oriental, 3700 m, 22 Jul 1974, García-Barriga & Jaramillo 20721 (MA, US); Santander: Vetas, 3100 m, 16 Jan 1927, Killip & Smith 17267 (GH, US); Vetas, 3100 m, 16 Jan 1927, Killip & Smith 17388 (A, GH, US); Vetas, 3100 m, 16 Jan 1927, Killip & Smith 17916 (A, GH, US).

Venezuela. Lara: Parque Nacional Dinira, Páramo de Jabón, laderas nororientales, 3000 m, 28 Dec 1999, Riina et al. 867 (BM); Mérida: near Laguna de Coromoto, Sierra Nevada, 3200 m, 7 Aug 1958, Dennis 2185 (K); Pueblo Hondo, carretera a Mérida km 115-117, 2350 m, 24 Nov 1948, García-Barriga 13295 (US); Laguna de Coromoto, 3200 m, Jun 1958, Schwabe s.n. (B); Táchira: La Grita, Páramo el Rosal, 2800 m, 8 Oct 1965, Bernardi 10898 (K, LE); Zumbador, hacia Queniquea, 2500 m, 31 Jul 1984, Bono 4066 (MO); Páramo el Pantano, 2500 m, 16 Nov 1976, Charpin & Jacquemond 13451 (MO); Páramo de la Negra, slopes below páramo, above La Grita, 2430 m, 7 Jul 1944, Steyermark 57101 (F).

Figures

Figure 33. Solanum dichroandrum Dunal. (A-F drawn from Riina et al. 784 G-I drawn from Killip & Smith 17916). Illustration by Bobbi Angell.

Figure 34. Distribution of Solanum dichroandrum Dunal.