Lycianthes sideroxyloides (Schltdl.) Bitter, Abh. Naturwiss. Verein Bremen 24 [preprint]: 403. 1919

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

43 Lycianthes sideroxyloides (Schltdl.) Bitter, Abh. Naturwiss. Verein Bremen 24 [preprint]: 403. 1919 Fig. 98

Solanum sideroxyloides Schltdl., Linnaea 8: 253. 1833. Type: México. Veracruz: Hacienda de la Laguna, July 1829, C. J. W. Schiede 135 (lectotype designated here: HAL [acc. # 100610]; isolectotypes: E [E00190770], G [G00379130], GOET [GOET003590], LE [LE00017034], MO [acc. # 2090811], NY [00139028], P [00371472], W [acc. # 1889-292190]).

Type.

Based on Solanum sideroxyloides Schltdl.

Description.

Scandent shrub to vine, 1-10 m tall. Indument of pale yellow to reddish-brown, uniseriate, multicellular, stalked or sessile, multangulate-stellate or geminate-stellate, eglandular, spreading trichomes 0.1-0.5 (0.75) mm long, 0.25-0.75 mm in diameter, the rays 5-8 rays per whorl, straight, not rebranched. Stems pale green (drying tan) when young, sparsely to densely pubescent (the surface often obscured), not compressed when dried in a plant press, becoming brown and woody with age; upper sympodial branching points a mixture of monochasial and dichasial, the branching near the tips of the plant divaricate (diverging at wide angles). Leaves simple, the leaves of the upper sympodia usually unpaired, the blades 2.5-15 × 1.5-8 cm, ovate to elliptic, chartaceous, thick chartaceous, or subcoriaceous, sparsely pubescent adaxially (often shiny, with trichomes just concentrated along the veins), moderately to densely pubescent abaxially with surface sometimes obscured, the base cuneate to rounded, sometimes oblique, the margin entire, usually irregularly undulate, the apex acute to acuminate, rarely obtuse, the petiole 0.5-3 cm long, the larger leaf blades with 4-7 primary veins on each side of the midvein. Flowers usually in groups of 4-30, (the densest groupings spherical in shape), axillary, erect; peduncles absent; pedicels 3-10 mm long and erect in flower, to 15 mm long and erect in fruit, densely pubescent (the surface often obscured); calyx 1-2 mm long, 2.5-3.5 mm in diameter, campanulate, densely pubescent, the margin truncate, with 10 obovate appendages, sometimes just small protuberances, 0.5-1.5 (2) mm long emerging 0.3-0.5 mm below the calyx rim; fruiting calyx enlarged, widely bowl-shaped to rotate, 1.5-2.5 mm long, 4-6 mm in diameter, the appendages not enlarging; corolla 0.5-1.1 cm long, campanulate to reflexed in orientation, stellate in outline, divided 1/2 to 2/3 of the way to the base, with scant interpetalar tissue present connecting the base of the lobes, white (lilac) and glabrous to sparsely pubescent adaxially, pale green to whitish and densely and evenly pubescent on the lobes abaxially; stamens equal, straight, the filaments ca. 0.5 mm long, glabrous, the anthers 2.5-3 mm long, elliptic to lanceolate, free of one another, yellow to purple-yellow, glabrous or with scattered trichomes, poricidal at the tips, the pores ovate, dehiscing distally, not opening into longitudinal slits; pistil with glabrous ovary, the style 5-6 mm long, linear, straight to curved, glabrous, the stigma truncate, decurrent down the sides. Fruit a berry, 2-7 mm long, 2-7 mm in diameter, globose, green to whitish when immature, orange-red when mature, glabrous or with scattered trichomes, lacking sclerotic granules. Seeds 15-40 per fruit, 1.5-2 × 1.5 mm, flattened, thickened on edges, circular, depressed ovate, or reniform in outline, yellow-orange to dark orange, the surface reticulum with minute serpentine pattern and shallow luminae.

Chromosome number.

Unknown.

Distribution and habitat.

Mexico (Chiapas, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Veracruz), Guatemala (Alta Verapaz, Huehuetenango), El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua, in montane rainforest, tropical moist forest, tropical dry forest, oak forest, and pine-oak forest, sometimes on slopes or in disturbed forest, along roadsides or in coffee plantations, often on limestone, 500-1850 m in elevation (Fig. 99 ).

Common names and uses.

None known.

Phenology.

Flowering specimens have been collected from March to November; specimens with mature fruits have been collected May to December. Many specimens have closed flowers, indicating that the flowers are open for a short time during the day, probably during the morning. In the field in Guatemala, in cloud forest on an overcast day, the first author observed that the newest flowers were open midday, while older flowers were already closed.

Preliminary conservation status.

Lycianthes sideroxyloides is a widespread species ranging from southern Mexico to Nicaragua, represented by 49 collections and occurring in seven protected areas. The EOO is 534,220.001 km2. Based on the EOO and the number of locations, and following the IUCN (2019) criteria, the preliminary assessment category is Least Concern (LC).

Discussion.

Lycianthes sideroxyloides is a wide-ranging species with obovate calyx appendages that are noticeably thickened at the tips. It has yellow to orange, geminate-stellate (multistoried) trichomes with 5-8 rays in a whorl. The obovate calyx appendages are similar to those of the wide-ranging L. pauciflora (Vahl) Bitter of Central and South America ( Benítez de Rojas and D’Arcy 1997) and its relatives. Lycianthes sideroxyloides exhibits variation in flower size and flower number per axil, length of calyx appendages, as well as fruit size. Most populations have very short calyx appendages, however there are populations with appendages as long as 2 mm long. In populations with small flowers, the number of flowers per axil can be as many as 30 with the inflorescence appearing spherical. In populations with few flowers per axil, the flower size is larger. Similarly, in populations with few, large flowers, the fruits are larger. Seed size, however, is consistent throughout the range and is the same in fruits of varying sizes; the number of seeds per fruit is greater in larger fruits, with larger fruits having twice as many seeds as small fruits. Lycianthes sideroxyloides is morphologically very similar to Lycianthes ocellata , which differs in having glandular appendages that dry black, and to L. cuchumatanensis , which differs in having thicker leaves with denser pubescence and larger seeds (2.5-3 mm, according to the protologue).

In the protologue for Solanum sideroxyloides , Schlechtendal (1833) cited one collection, Schiede 135, but did not cite a specific specimen or herbarium. We are designating the duplicate at HAL [acc. # 100610] as the lectotype, chosen from the many duplicates of Schiede 135 at multiple institutions listed above.

The status of L. sideroxyloides var. transitoria Bitter (Abh. Naturwiss. Verein Bremen 24 [preprint]: 405. 1919. Type: Guatemala, Depto. Alta Verapaz, Pansamalá, 1200 m, Jun, H. von Tuerkheim 923 [holotype: B]) is unknown, as the one specimen at B upon which it was based is lost and no photo negative is available at F. In the protologue, Bitter (1919) commented that the pubescence of the underside of the leaf in var. transitoria is between the densely felted pubescence of typical L. sideroxyloides in Mexico and the sparsely hairy leaf underside of L. sideroxyloides ssp. ocellata , however, var. transitoria lacks the dark spots at the upper end of the short calyx, which defines L. sideroxyloides ssp. ocellata . Therefore, Bitter’s description of the variety matches a sparsely pubescent L. sideroxyloides . Gentry and Standley (1974) synonymized var. transitoria with L. ocellata , because they did not recognize that L. sideroxyloides occurs in Guatemala.

Representative specimens examined.

Guatemala. Alta Verapaz: on Cobán Road, between Chiracte and Chapultepec Farm, in clearing betweeen km 284/285, 19 May 1964, E. Contreras 4726 (MO); Huehuetenango: northern region, along road from San Ramón to Barillas, 15.8626, -91.2147, 790 m, 15 Aug 2017, Dean 9515 (DAV). Mexico. Chiapas: Mpio. Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mirador El Roblar, Parque Nacional Cañón del Sumidero, 16.7972, -93.0897, 940 m, 23 Aug 2007, J.A. Espinosa J. 273 (MEXU). Guerrero: Mpio. Atoyac, cuenca del Río Balsas y Sierra Madre del Sur, a 15 km al NE de El Paraíso, [17.3574, -100.2194], 1100 m, 19 Aug 1985, J.C. Soto N. 10103 (MEXU). Oaxaca: Mpio. San Miguel del Puerto, El Enjambre, camino a la Constancia, 15.9771, -96.1264, 1412 m, 27 May 2005, J. Pascual 1524 (IEB, MEXU). Veracruz: Cerro Buenavista, 18.8944, -97.0375, 1255 m, 31 Aug 1995, B. Juárez L. 719 (MEXU, XAL).

Figures

Figure 98. Image of herbarium specimen of L. sideroxyloides, Pascual 1524 (MEXU). Specimen used with permission from the Herbario Nacional de Mexico, Universidad Autonoma de Mexico.

Figure 99. Map of geographic distribution of L. sideroxyloides based on herbarium specimen data.