Lycianthes acapulcensis (Baill.) D'Arcy , Solanaceae Newsl. 2(4): 23. 1986

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

1 Lycianthes acapulcensis (Baill.) D'Arcy, Solanaceae Newsl. 2(4): 23. 1986 Fig. 6

Parascopolia acapulcensis Baill., Hist. Pl. (Baillon) 9: 339. 1888. Type: Mexico. Guerrero: Acapulco, Punto Griffon, 1888, C. Thiébaut 1002 (lectotype, designated here: P [P00070403]).

Lycianthes grandifrons Bitter, Abh. Naturwiss. Verein Bremen 24 [preprint]: 418. 1919. Type: Costa Rica. San José: Llanos de Turrucares, 600 m, 18 Sep 1888, H. Pittier & T. Durand 478 (holotype: BR [000000552872]; isotypes: CR [mixed collection with Witheringia solanacea L’Hér.], US [00027878]).

Lycianthes guatemalensis Bitter, Abh. Naturwiss. Verein Bremen 24 [preprint]: 419. 1919. Type: Guatemala. Retalhuleu: Retalulëu [Retalhuleu], May 1877, K. Bernoulli & O. Cario 2384 (lectotype, designated by Dean 2004, pg. 393: GOET [GOET003442]).

Lycianthes somniculenta (Kunze ex Schltdl.) Bitter var. cladotricha Bitter, Abh. Naturwiss. Verein Bremen 24 [preprint]: 413. 1919. Type: Mexico. Morelos: Cuernavaca, in moist copses, 5000 ft, Jun-Jul 1896, C. Pringle 6399 (lectotype designated by Dean 2004 pg. 395: MEXU [00029023]; isolectotypes: B [not seen, cited by Bitter 1919, probably destroyed], BM [000514912], BR [000000552840], E [E00570140], G [G00343072, G00343073], GH [00021855], GOET [GOET003441, GOET003440], HBG [HBG-511362], JE [JE00004691], K [K000063119], M [M-0166091], MEXU [00029022, 00029023], MO [MO-153222], NDG [NDG45130], NY [00138707], PH [00016314], S [S-G-9982], UC [104211], W [acc. # 1897-4064], WRSL [cited by Bitter 1919, not seen], WU [acc. # 037953], Z [Z-000028495]).

Lycianthes somniculenta (Kunze ex Schltdl.) Bitter var. ramosipila Bitter, Abh. Naturwiss. Verein Bremen 24 [preprint]: 413. 1919. Type: Cultivated in Paris (?) "plaines de terre froide", JDP (Jardin des Plantes) 82 (holotype: P [P00070402]).

Lycianthes villosula Bitter, Abh. Naturwiss. Verein Bremen 24 [preprint]: 420. 1919. Type: Costa Rica. Alajuela: El Brazil, gorges of Virilla River, 800 m, 14 Jul 1911, H. Pittier 3676 (holotype: US [00027904]).

Type.

Based on Parascopolia acapulcensis Baill.

Description.

Perennial herb from moniliform storage roots, decumbent to erect, 0.1-0.5 (1) m tall, dying back each season. Indument of white, uniseriate, multicellular, simple or dendritically branched, eglandular, spreading to appressed-retrorse trichomes 0.1-1 (2) mm long. Stems green to green-purple, sparsely to moderately pubescent, much compressed upon drying in a plant press, woody with age, especially near the base; first stem (1.5) 5-30 (70) cm long to first inflorescence, the internodes 2-10 (14); first two sympodial branching points dichasial, followed by monochasial branching, this sometimes very extensive (in some Costa Rican and Nicaraguan populations the stems spreading along the ground and rooting at the nodes). Leaves simple, the leaves of the upper sympodia usually paired and unequal in size, the larger ones with blades 3-18 × 1-8 cm, the smaller ones with blades 1/4 to 3/4 the size of the larger, the leaf pairs similar in shape, the blades ovate, elliptic, or obovate, chartaceous to thick chartaceous, glabrous to moderately pubescent, the primary veins 4-7 on each side of midvein, the base cuneate (rarely truncate), short attenuate or decurrent onto the petiole, slightly oblique on smaller leaves, the margin entire, usually irregularly undulate, the apex acute to short-acuminate (rarely long-acuminate), the petioles 0.5-1.5 (2.5) cm long, sometimes absent. Flowers solitary, axillary, oriented horizontally; peduncles absent; pedicels (10) 30-60 (85) mm and erect in flower, 20-70 (90) mm long and deflexed in fruit, sparsely to moderately pubescent; calyx (2) 2.5-5.5 (6.25) mm long, 3.5-5 (6) mm in diameter, obconic, campanulate, or urceolate, glabrous to moderately pubescent, the margin truncate, with (5) 10 linear, spreading to reflexed appendages 1-6.5 (9) mm long emerging 0.5-1 mm below the calyx rim; fruiting calyx enlarged, (1.5) 2-4 (6) mm long, 5-12.5 (14) mm in diameter, the appendages to 10 mm long, usually reflexed (sometimes appressed to fruit), often broken; corolla 1.1-2.7 cm long (2-5 cm in diameter), rotate in orientation, mostly entire in outline (with shallow notches), with abundant interpetalar tissue, white, sometimes with darker maroon to purple stripes along the major veins adaxially, green near the major veins abaxially, glabrous; stamens unequal, straight, the filaments of three lengths, the two shortest filaments 1-2.5 (3.5) mm long, the two medium filaments 1-3.5 (4.5) mm long, the one long filament 4-9 mm long, the length of the long filament nearly always 2-4 times that of medium filaments, glabrous, the anthers 4.5-7.5 mm long, lanceolate to oblong (rarely ovate), free of one another, yellow, glabrous, poricidal at the tips, the pores linear to ovate, dehiscing distally or away from the style, not opening into longitudinal slits; pollen grains dicolporate; pistil with glabrous ovary, the style 9-14 mm, linear, straight to slightly curved, glabrous, the stigma usually strongly bilobed (sometimes weakly bilobed or capitate). Fruit a berry, remaining attached to calyx at maturity, pendent, (10) 15-50 (70) mm long, (4.5) 9-20 mm in diameter, short-ovoid to elongate fusiform, the tip apiculate to long-attenuate, the exocarp glossy blue-black, grey-blue, bright blue, or dull purple, glabrous, the mesocarp ranging from dark purple and juicy to light purple and powdery, lacking sclerotic granules, the placental area light purple and powdery. Seeds (11) 20-80 (90) per fruit, 2.5-3.5 × 3-4.2 mm, not compressed, irregularly depressed obovate to depressed rhombic, ridged and blistered along one side, black, the surface reticulum with a rough, loose serpentine pattern with deep luminae.

Chromosome number.

2n = 24 from Dean 313, 314, 329 ( Dean 2004).

Distribution and habitat.

Mexico (Chiapas, Colima, Guerrero, Jalisco, México, Michoacán, Morelos, Oaxaca), Guatemala (Huehuetenango, Retalhuleu, Suchitepéquez), El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica in clearings and disturbed areas in oak or coniferous forest, shrublands, tropical moist forest, and tropical dry forest, generally on volcanic soils (rarely on limestone, granite, or shale) at 450-2600 m in elevation (Fig. 7 ).

Common names and uses.

Mexico. Fruit edible; maravilla, huevo de cuervo, chimpin, tsibu ( Dean 2004).

Phenology.

Flowering specimens have been collected from May to September; specimens with mature fruits have been collected between September and November. In the field, the first author has observed that the corollas open in the very early morning and close by late morning. The pollen in this species has a lemony fragrance.

Preliminary conservation status.

Lycianthes acapulcensis is a widespread species in Mexico and Central America, represented by 116 collections and occurring in seven protected areas. This species was given a preliminary conservation assessment by Anguiano-Constante et al. (2018) of Least Concern (LC).

Discussion.

Lycianthes acapulcensis is a very variable species, and it may be that some of the local forms deserve varietal status. It is variable in habit, indument (both trichome type and density), leaf shape, presence or absence of purple stripes on the corolla, fruit shape, and fruit coloration. However, the variation extremes are connected by intermediate populations ( Dean 2004).

Lycianthes acapulcensis may be confused with L. ciliolata Bitter and L. rzedowskii . It is separated from those species by its combination of white corollas that may or may not have maroon to purple stripes and its pattern of filament lengths (the longest filament nearly always more than twice as long as the adjacent filaments). The anthers have a lemony fragrance, which is unlike that of any other anther (pollen) fragrance in similar Mexican and Guatemalan species of Lycianthes . The root shape (moniliform rather than fusiform segments) is helpful if underground parts are available for examination. On dried specimens, the length of the pedicels of the youngest mature flowers relative to their subtending leaves is often a useful character for separating L. acapulcensis from L. ciliolata . In the former, the length of those pedicels is usually less than that of the subtending leaves, while in L. ciliolata the length of the pedicels generally exceeds that of the leaves. Lycianthes acapulcensis appears to hybridize with L. moziniana and L. rzedowskii where the species co-occur ( Dean 2004).

When Baillon (1888) published the name Parascopolia acapulcensis , he did not specify a specimen or herbarium. Similarly, when D’Arcy (1986b) transferred this species to Lycianthes , he did not cite a type specimen. There is only one specimen of this species seen by Baillon, and it is at P [P00070403]. Therefore, we are here designating specimen P00070403 as the lectotype of P. acapulcensis .

Representative specimens examined.

Guatemala. Huehuetenango: Mpio. Jacaltenango, 15.6744, -91.7353, 1627 m, 11 Jul 2006, M. Véliz 17055 (BIGU). Retalhuleu: S. Sebastian, [14.55, -91.65], Sep 1874, C. Bernoulli 2404 (GOET). Suchitepéquez: Patutlul, Finca Los Tarrales, [14.5364, -91.17], 300 m, 30 Jul 2004, S. Montiel s.n. (BIGU). Mexico. Chiapas: El Ranchito, sobre la carretera de los miradores, Parque Nacional Cañon del Sumidero, 16.8192, -93.0736, 1301 m, 24 Aug 2007, J.A. Espinosa-Jiménez 306 (MO). Colima: Rancho El Jabalí, 22 air km NNW of Colima in the SW foothills of the Volcán de Colima, on border of Colima and Jalisco, [19.45, -103.7], 1300 m, 15 Jul 1991, L. Vázquez-Villagran 887 (MEXU, DAV). Guerrero: Arroyo Cumiapa, a 1.44 km en línea recta al noroeste de la Comisaría de Arroyo Cumpiapa, sobre el camino que va a Cerro Zapote, en el terreno del Sr. Lauro Cortez, 16.8826, -98.6266, 531 m, 2 Aug 2017, K. Velazco-G 40590 (DAV). Jalisco: Sierra del Halo, ca. 2 rd mi along rd to San Isidro (or Jilotlan) that leaves old Colima-Tecalitlán rd c. 7 rd mi S of Tecalitlán, [19.3171, -103.2696], 1340 m, 23 Nov 1991, E. Dean 329 (DAV, MEXU). México: Cruz de los Pozitos, 18.9025, -99.7428, 2340 m, 20 Aug 2011, F. D. Dorantes-Hernández 408 (MEXU). Michoacán: 4 km al sur de Doctor Miguel Silva, sobre la carretera a la Huacana, [19.1368, -101.7215], 500 m, 22 Jul 2001, J. Rzedowski 53805 (MEXU). Morelos: noroeste de La Barranca de Atzingo, [18.9455, -99.2754], 1800 m, 12 Aug 1987, E. Estrada-Loera 1708 (MEXU). Oaxaca: San José del Chilar, 17.7007, -96.9321, 683 m, 10 Nov 2009, O. Vargas-Ponce 2084 (IBUG).

Figures

Figure 6. Image of herbarium specimen of L. acapulcensis, Dean 209 (DAV). Image used with permission from the UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity.

Figure 7. Map of geographic distribution of L. acapulcensis based on herbarium specimen data.