Solanum sanchez-vegae S. Knapp, 2010

Knapp, Sandra, 2013, A revision of the Dulcamaroid Clade of Solanum L. (Solanaceae), PhytoKeys 22, pp. 1-432 : 222-225

34. Solanum sanchez-vegae S. Knapp , PLoS ONE 5(5): e10502. 2010 Figure 84

Type.

Peru. Amazonas: Prov. Chachapoyas, W side of Cerros Calla-Calla, 45 km above Balsas, mid-way on road to Leimebamba, 3100 m, 19 Jun 1964, P.C. Hutchison & J.K. Wright 5738 (holotype: USM; isotypes: F [F-163831], K [K000545365], P [P00549320], US [US-246605], USM).

Description.

Woody vine or lax shrub, to 6 m tall; stems glabrous to sparsely pubescent with tangled loose dendritic trichomes 1-1.5 mm long, these multi-celled and few branched; new growth pubescent with tangled dendritic trichomes 1-1.5 mm long, occasionally almost completely glabrous; bark of older stems reddish brown, glabrescent. Sympodial units plurifoliate. Leaves simple, (2.5-)5-12 cm long, (1.3-)2.5-5 cm wide, narrowly elliptic, fleshy to chartaceous, the upper surfaces glabrous, the lower surfaces with loose dendritic trichomes to 1 mm long along the veins and occasionally extending to the lamina; primary veins 11-14, with a prominent intramarginal vein looping 1/3 of the way in from the margin, all veins impressed above; base acute to cuneate; margins entire, usually revolute; apex acute; petioles 1-3.5 cm long, stout, glabrous to sparsely pubescent, often drying dark in herbarium specimens, twining. Inflorescences terminal, to 15 cm long and very broad, branched many times, beginning very near the base, with 50-100 flowers, glabrous to sparsely pubescent with loose dendritic trichomes; peduncle to 1 cm long, the inflorescence branching very near the junction with the stem; pedicels 1.2-1.5 cm long, slender, 0.5-1 mm in diameter at the base, 1-1.2 mm in diameter at the apex, spreading at anthesis, glabrous to very sparsely pubescent, articulated at the base, leaving a prominent peg from a sleeve ca. 0.5 mm long; pedicel scars irregularly spaced, often clustered, 0.5-10 mm apart. Buds globose and becoming ellipsoid, the corolla strongly exserted from the calyx tube before anthesis. Flowers all perfect, 5-merous. Calyx tube 1-1.5 mm long, cup-shaped but abruptly narrowing from the pedicel, the lobes 1.5-2 mm long, broadly deltate and irregularly splitting, pubescent at the tips with tiny dendritic trichomes to 0.5 mm. Corolla 1.9-3 cm in diameter, lilac, stellate to stellate-rotate, lobed ca. halfway to the base, the lobes 8-10 mm long, 4-7 mm wide, planar or slightly campanulate at anthesis, densely papillate and pubescent at the tips and margins, these extending slightly along the midvein abaxially, adaxial surfaces glabrous. Filament tube <0.2 mm long, the free portion of the filaments 0.75-1.5 mm long, glabrous and shiny; anthers 4.5-5 mm long, 1.5-2 mm wide, sagittate at the base, poricidal at the tips, the pores lengthening to slits with age. Ovary glabrous; style 7-10 mm long, glabrous and shiny; stigma capitate and bifid, the surface minutely papillate. Fruit a globose berry, 1.2-1.5 cm in diameter, black, the pericarp thin, dull and matte; fruiting pedicels 1.6-2 cm long, ca. 7 mm in diameter rat the apex with the apex markedly more dilated, apparently nodding in fruit; fruiting calyx lobes to 5 mm, woody, the margins paler. Seeds 4-6 per berry, 5.5-6 mm long, 3-4 mm wide, flattened reniform, reddish brown, the surfaces minutely pitted, the testal cells round-rectangular in outline. Chromosome number: not known.

Distribution

( Figure 85 ). Endemic to the Andes of northern Peru south of the Huancabamba Depression around the middle Río Marañon valley, from 2500 to 3250 m.

Ecology.

Solanum sanchez-vegae occurs in cloud forest, montane forest ("ceja de selva" and “jalca”).

Conservation status.

Possible Near Threatened (possible NT); EOO <100,000 km2 (possible NT) and AOO>10,000 km2 (LC). See Moat (2007) for explanation of measurements.

Discussion.

Solanum sanchez-vegae is a striking species, with large purple flowers and shiny rubbery leaves. It was long subsumed in the more common and widely distributed Solanum aureum , with which it is very similar. Solanum aureum differs from Solanum sanchez-vegae in its smaller flowers, generally denser more congested pubescence of dendritic trichomes with many small, short branches (as opposed to loose dendritic trichomes with larger branches) and more northerly distribution. The ranges of Solanum aureum and Solanum sanchez-vegae slightly overlap in northern Peru, but in general Solanum aureum is an Ecuadorian species. I have previously identified specimens of Solanum sanchez-vegae as Solanum aligerum , a shrubby member of the clade with similar large, open inflorescences, but Solanum aligerum has white flowers and tufts of dendritic trichomes in the vein axils, rather than purple flowers and dendritic trichomes along the veins. Solanum sanchez-vegae also resembles the Venezuelan species Solanum dichroandrum , with which it shares loose pubescence and relatively large flowers; it differs from Solanum dichroandrum in its much larger (to 3 cm rather than to 2.5 cm) purple flowers, glabrous style and few-seeded berries.

Specimens examined.

Ecuador. Azuay: Cuenca-Soldanos road, following the N bank of the Río Yanuncay, 23 km W of San Joaquin, 3110 m, 22 Jun 1989, Dorr & Valdespino 6415 (US); Loja: Nudo de Sabanilla, W slope, ca. 8 km above Yangana on road to Valladolid, 2300 m, 2 Apr 1985, Harling & Andersson 23518 (NY).

Peru. Amazonas: Chachapoyas, Ipana, Balsas-Leimebamba road, km 406, 4 Jun 1977, Boeke 1927 (MO); Chachapoyas, Calla-Calla, 3200 m, 29 Jul 1991, Mostacero L. et al. 2619 (MO); Chachapoyas, Atuén, Chuquibamba, 3800 m, 18 Jul 1995, Quipuscoa S. & Bardales 187 (BM, F, MO); Chachapoyas, Cerros Calla-Calla, middle eastern slopes, near kms 411-416 of Leimebamba-Balsas road, 3100 m, 11 Jul 1962, Wurdack 1314 (K, USM); Cajamarca: San Miguel, El Tingo, en los alrededores, Dist. Unión Agua Blanca, 2930 m, 9 Feb 2000, Alvítez I. et al. 1057 (F); Jaén, Lanchal, La Cocha, Dist. Sallique, 3300 m, 28 Jun 1998, Díaz et al. 9717 (MOL, USM); San Ignacio, base de Cerro Picorana, Dist. San José de Lourdes, 25 Aug 1999, Díaz et al. 10743 (MO); San Miguel, El Tingo, alrededores (Agua Blanca), 2950 m, 5 Jul 1986, Mostacero L. et al. 1326 (BM, F); San Miguel, El Tingo, (Agua Blanca), 2750 m, 12 May 1977, Sagástegui et al. 8804 (MO); Contumazá, Contumazá-Cascabamba, 2700 m, 12 Jun 1981, Sagástegui et al. 9994 (BM, MO); Cajamarca, SAIS, José Carlos Mariátegui, km 20-40 on Sunchubamba-San Juan road, 3300 m, 5 Jun 1984, Smith & Sánchez Vega 7524 (BM, MO, USM); Contumazá, sobre la ruta Salcat, Cascabamba-Pampa de la Sal, 3300 m, 30 Jun 1983, Sánchez Vega 3142 (F, MO); La Libertad: Santiago de Chuco, Cachicadán, Cerro La Botica, 2900 m, 9 Jun 1953, López M. 1011 (US); Santiago de Chuco, Cachicadán, 2700 m, 14 Jun 1984, Smith & Sánchez Vega 11894 (MO); Sanchez Carrión, Molino Grande, alrededores de Huamachuco, 3100 m, 22 May 2001, Sagástegui & Zapata 16535 (BM); Santiago de Chuco, Cachicadán, 2900 m, 9 Jun 2001, Smith & Sánchez Vega 16631 (BM, F); Bolivar, junction of Quebrada Misquichilca and Quebrada Quisuar, 4 km SE Condormarca, 3500 m, 5 Jun 1986, Young 3554 (K, USM); Piura: Chichinpampa, 2660 m, 25 Jun 2009, Aedo 16670 (MA, USM); Huancabamba, Procedencia: Cruz Blanca-Turnalina, 2600 m, 5 Sep 1981, López M. & Ramírez 8926 (BM); San Martín: Huallaga, valley of Río Apisoncho [=Abiseo] 30 km above Jucusbamba, 3600 m, 2 Sep 1965, Hamilton & Holligan 551 (K).

Figures

Figure 84. Solanum sanchez-vegae S. Knapp. (A-F drawn from Smith & Sanchez-Vega 7524 G from Hutchison et al. 5738). Originally published in Knapp (2010). Illustration by Bobbi Angell.

Figure 85. Distribution of Solanum sanchez-vegae S. Knapp.