Solanum kulliwaita S. Knapp, 2010

Knapp, Sandra, 2013, A revision of the Dulcamaroid Clade of Solanum L. (Solanaceae), PhytoKeys 22, pp. 1-432 : 143-146

20. Solanum kulliwaita S. Knapp , PhytoKeys 1: 35. 2010 Figure 52

Type.

Peru. Cusco: Prov. La Convención, Dist. Ocobamba, Mesa Pelada, 12°54'13"S, 72°37'06"W, 2613 m, 23 March 2004, L. Valenzuela, E. Suclli & G. Calatayud 3163 (holotype: USM; isotypes: CUZ [n.v.], MO, MOL [n.v.], NY [NY00824906]).

Description.

Woody vine or scandent shrub, the height not recorded, the branches arching. Stems sparsely pubescent with simple uniseriate multicellular trichomes 0.5-1 mm long, glabrescent, slightly winged from the decurrent leaf bases; new growth pubescent with simple uniseriate trichomes 0.5-1 mm, these occasionally dendritic. Bark of older stems dark reddish brown, shiny. Sympodial units plurifoliate. Leaves simple, (2-)3.5-8.5 cm long, 1-3 cm wide, narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, slightly fleshy, the upper surfaces sparsely pubescent with simple or occasionally furcate or branched trichomes on the lamina, more densely pubescent on the midvein, the lower surfaces glabrous or with a few scattered simple uniseriate trichomes along the midvein; primary veins 7-9 pairs, the veins often drying blackish brown; base acute to attenuate; margins entire, sometimes revolute, densely pubescent in the basal quarter to third with simple trichomes extending from the petiole; apex acute; petioles 0.7-2 cm long, adaxially densely pubescent along the groove with golden simple or occasionally furcate uniseriate trichomes, not apparently twining. Inflorescences terminal or lateral, 9 -11 cm long, 3-5 times branched, with 10-20 flowers, densely pubescent with simple uniseriate trichomes mostly 0.3-0.5(-1) mm long, purple in live plants and retaining pigmentation in dried material, the cells of the trichomes small and weak-walled, usually collapsing and tangled, the lateral cell walls dark-pigmented, the terminal cells spheroidal and apparently glandular; peduncle 1.5-3.5 cm long; pedicels 1-1.2 cm long, ca. 0.5 mm in diameter at the base, ca. 1 mm in diameter at the apex, slender, erect to nodding, densely pubescent like the rhachis, articulated at the base and inserted into a short sleeve or above the base and leaving a peg ca. 2 mm long; pedicel scars irregularly spaced 0.5-5 mm apart, usually grouped. Buds ellipsoid, the corolla strongly exserted from the calyx tube before anthesis. Flowers all perfect, 5-merous. Calyx tube 2-2.5 mm long, cup-shaped, narrowing gradually to the pedicel, the lobes 2.5-3.5 mm long, the lower portion broadly deltate, the distal part an apiculate tip to 2 mm long, densely pubescent with simple uniseriate trichomes like those of the inflorescence rhachis, these apparently glandular, the adaxial surface glabrous. Corolla 2.3-2.5 cm in diameter, purple, stellate, lobed 2/3 to 3/4 of the way to the base, the lobes 9-12 mm long, 4-5 mm wide, spreading, the tips and margins densely pubescent on the abaxial surface with weak, collapsing simple uniseriate trichomes like those of the inflorescence, but smaller and not apparently glandular, adaxially glabrous. Filament tube minute, the free portion of the filaments 1-2 mm long, glabrous; anthers 3.5-4.5 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, ellipsoid, loosely connivent, poricidal at the tips, the pores lengthening to slits with age. Ovary glabrous; style 7-8 mm long, glabrous; stigma capitate, the surface minutely papillose. Fruit a globose berry, ca. 1 cm in diameter (immature?), black when ripe, the pericarp thin, not shiny, glabrous; fruiting pedicels 1.5-1.7 cm long, ca. 1.5 mm in diameter at the base, woody, more or less nodding. Seeds not known. Chromosome number: not known.

Distribution

( Figure 53 ). Disjunct between Azuay province in southern Ecuador and the type locality in the valley of the Río Urubamba in the Department of Cusco in southern Peru (Mesa Pelada), from 2400-2600 m.

Ecology.

Cloud forests.

Conservation status.

Possible Near Threatened (possible NT); EOO <45,000 km2 (NT) and AOO>10,000 km2 (LC). See Moat (2007) for explanation of measurements. Known only from a few widely disjunct collections in a very narrow geographical area outside any protected areas, this species can be considered of conservation concern.

Discussion.

Solanum kulliwaita is most similar morphologically to Solanum sanchez-vegae from northern Peru. It can be distinguished from that species by its leaves that are glabrous beneath and with a dense covering of uniseriate trichomes on the adaxial surface of the petiole, the ciliate lower leaf margins and the distinctive uniseriate glandular trichomes of the inflorescence. The inflorescence trichomes are unusual in the Dulcamaroid clade in having three globular cells at the apex and in drying purple (and being purple in live plants, fide Valenzuela et al. 3163). Trichomes of the rest of the plant (i.e., leaves) are not glandular. Specimens from Ecuador have glabrous leaves, but the trichomes of the inflorescence are identical to those found in Peruvian populations.

Specimens examined.

Ecuador. Azuay: Cuenca-Loja highway, km 43, 15 Jul 1977, Boeke & Loyola 2148 (BM, NY); Cumbe, 3000 m, 22 Apr 1968, Harling et al. 8732 (BM); Road Cuenca-Loja, ca 20 km south of Cumbe, 3000 m, 19 Mar 1974, Harling & Andersson 12671 (BM).

Peru. Cusco: La Convención, Maranura, Dist. Maranura, Mesapelada, 2450 m, 19 Apr 2004, Galiano et al. 6137 (MO, NY, USM).

Figures

Figure 52. Solanum kulliwaita S. Knapp. (A-E drawn from Valenzuela 3163 F-G drawn from Galiano 6137). Illustration by Bobbi Angell.

Figure 53. Distribution of Solanum kulliwaita S. Knapp.