Lycianthes grandifolia E.Dean, Brittonia 70: 479. 2018

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

20 Lycianthes grandifolia E.Dean, Brittonia 70: 479. 2018 Fig. 46

Type.

Mexico. Chiapas: [Mpio. Siltepec?] Letrero, near Siltepec [15.5564, -92.3233], 2000 m, 6 Jul 1941, E. Matuda 4350 (holotype: MEXU [acc. # 82114]; isotypes: A [00934887], [LL [00226934, 00227071], MO [acc. # 1244040]).

Description.

Shrub, 2-3 m tall, erect. Indument of light yellow (sometimes appearing tan or off-white), uniseriate, multicellular, simple, eglandular, ascending-appressed to spreading trichomes 0.1-1.5 mm long. Stems green, angled when young, sparsely to moderately pubescent, somewhat compressed and ribbed when dried in a plant press, becoming brown and woody with age; upper sympodial branching points monochasial or dichasial. Leaves simple, the leaves of the upper sympodia usually paired and unequal in size, the larger ones with blades 8-22 × 5-12 cm, the smaller ones with blades 3-9 × 2-4.5 cm, the leaf pairs similar in shape, the blades ovate (often widely so), thin chartaceous, sparsely pubescent, ciliate along the margin, the base usually long attenuate (cuneate), sometimes oblique, the margin entire, usually irregularly undulate, the apex acuminate, the petiole 0.2-5 cm long, those of the longer leaves 2 cm long or longer, the larger leaf blades with 5-6 primary veins on each side of the midvein. Flowers in groups of 2-8, axillary, oriented horizontally; peduncles absent; pedicels 10-25 mm long and erect in flower, sparsely to moderately pubescent, mature fruiting pedicels not yet seen; calyx 2.5-3.5 mm long, 3-4 mm in diameter, obconic to campanulate, sparsely to moderately pubescent, the margin truncate, with 10 spreading linear appendages 2-7.5 mm long (at least some appendages on a calyx 4 mm long or longer), emerging 0.25-0.5 mm below the calyx rim; mature fruiting calyx not yet seen; corolla 0.8-1.6 cm long, rotate in orientation, mostly entire in outline (with shallow notches), with abundant interpetalar tissue, white, glabrous adaxially, the abaxial side of the lobes moderately puberulent near the major veins; stamens unequal, straight, the four short filaments 1-2 mm long, the one long filament 3-4.5 mm long, glabrous, the anthers 3-4 mm long, lanceolate, free of one another, yellow, glabrous, poricidal at the tips, the pores ovate, the pores of the longest stamen dehiscing toward the style, the pores of the shorter stamens dehiscing distally or away from the style, not opening into longitudinal slits; pistil with glabrous ovary, the style ca. 7 mm long, linear, glabrous, the stigma capitate, decurrent down two sides, slightly lobed. Fruit a berry, 4-5 mm long, 4-5 mm in diameter, globose to depressed-globose, green when immature (mature fruit not yet seen), glabrous, lacking sclerotic granules. Seeds 10-30 per fruit, only seen when immature, mature size and details not yet known, not notched.

Chromosome number.

Unknown.

Distribution and habitat.

Mexico (Chiapas), in cloud forest, 1700-2000 m in elevation (Fig. 47 ).

Common names and uses.

None known.

Phenology.

Flowering specimens have been collected in June and July, presumably fruiting after that. The corollas on the specimens of this species are usually closed, indicating that the corollas may just open very early in the morning and then close by late morning.

Preliminary conservation status.

Lycianthes grandifolia is a rarely collected species of southern Mexico, represented by only five collections, two from the protected area El Triunfo. The EOO is 828.005.215 km2, and the AOO is 16 km2. Based on the IUCN (2019) criteria, the preliminary assessment category is Endangered (EN).

Discussion.

This species belongs to series Tricolores and is distinguished from most of the other species in the series by long and broad leaves and occurring in cloud forest at elevations close to 2000 m. Every specimen of this species that we have examined has at least one leaf with a length greater than or equal to 18 cm. Other species within series Tricolores with leaves that can reach this length (but not typically) are L. arrazolensis , L. jalicensis , and L. michaelneei . Lycianthes grandifolia differs from L. michaelneei in having white corollas (rather than purple) and having less dense pubescence. It differs from L. arrazolensis by usually having longer calyx appendages that are inserted <0.5 mm from the calyx rim (versus> 0.5 mm). It differs from L. jalicensis in having pubescent calyces and corollas and occurring at elevations near 2000 m (versus <1400 m) ( Dean et al. 2018c).

Lycianthes grandifolia occurs in habitats similar to those of L. tricolor (high elevation forest types), and it has pedicels of similar length. It differs from L. tricolor by longer leaves and angled and ribbed young stems that compress when dried in a plant press. We have not seen the mature fruits or seeds of L. grandifolia , however the immature seeds resemble those of L. arrazolensis , which are unnotched, rather than those of L. tricolor , which are notched ( Dean et al. 2018c).

This species is poorly known and has been rarely collected. One collection from southeastern Chiapas that may belong to L. grandifolia : Mt. Pasitar (Paxtar), 3-4 Aug 1937, Matuda 1642 (MO-1807983; US-1807982) differs in having the calyx appendages densely pubescent with long, spreading trichomes (2 mm long). Therefore, we did not include it in the species description. The elevation and exact location of this collection is unknown. If from low elevations, it may represent a new species belonging to series Tricolores . More fieldwork is necessary to fill out the morphological details of L. grandifolia ( Dean et al. 2018c)

Representative specimen examined.

Mexico. Chiapas: Mpio. Mapastepec, Reserva El Triunfo, Deslave-Cipresal, 15.65, -92.8, 1750 m, 14 Jun 1990, M. Heath 1012 (MO3801177).

Figures

Figure 46. Image of herbarium specimen of L. grandifolia, Heath 1012 (MO). Specimen used with permission from the Missouri Botanical Garden (http: // www. tropicos. org).

Figure 47. Map of geographic distribution of L. grandifolia based on herbarium specimen data.