Solanum inodorum Vell., 1829

Knapp, Sandra, 2013, A revision of the Dulcamaroid Clade of Solanum L. (Solanaceae), PhytoKeys 22, pp. 1-432 : 139-143

19. Solanum inodorum Vell. , Fl. Flumin. 85. 1829 Figure 49

Solanum decorticans Sendtn. in Mart., Fl. Bras. 10: 47, tab. 4, Figure 31. 1846. Type:Brazil. "Brasilia australis", F. Sellow s.n. (lectotype, designated here: K [K000438190]; isolectotypes: B [destroyed, F. neg. 2810], F [F-621187, frag. of specimen from B], P [P00336044]).

Solanum decorticatum Dunal, Prodr. [A.P. de Candolle] 13(1): 135. 1852. Type: Brazil. São Paulo, 1833, C. Gaudichaud 308 (holotype: P [P00336045]).

Solanum laurinum Dunal, Prodr. [A.P. de Candolle] 13(1): 154. 1852. Type: Brazil. São Paulo: "circa promontorium et civitatem", J. Bowie & A. Cunningham s.n. (holotype: BM [BM000517443]; isotypes: G-DC [G00145574, F neg. 6773, IDC microfiche 800-61.2074:III.7], MPU [frag.], S [S07-16646]).

Solanum decorticans Sendtn. var. laurinum (Dunal) Witasek, Kaiserl. Akad. Wiss. Wien, Math.-Naturwiss. Kl., Denkschr. 79: 343. 1910. Type: Based on Solanum laurinum Dunal

Type.

Brazil. Rio de Janeiro: Sin. loc., Anon. (no specimens cited; lectotype, designated here: Vellozo, Fl. Flumin. Icones 2, tab. 107. 1831).

Description.

Woody vine, climbing with twining petioles. Stems glabrous and shiny; new growth glabrous and shiny, occasionally with a few papillae. Bark of older stems white or creamy white, exfoliating. Sympodial units plurifoliate. Leaves simple, 3-11 cm long, 1-4.5 cm wide, elliptic to narrowly elliptic, coriaceous, slightly discolorous, both surfaces completely glabrous and shiny; primary veins 8-10, only the midrib visible above; base acute; margins entire, strongly revolute; apex acute; petioles 0.4-0.7(-2.6) cm long, glabrous, wrinkling when dry, the outer cells exfoliating like the stems, twining and curling around supports to aid climbing. Inflorescences terminal on axillary short shoots, but leaves on short shoots soon deciduous so the inflorescence appearing axillary, 1-6 cm long, simple to twice branched, with 5-20 flowers, these clustered at the tips or not, gla brous; peduncle 0.7-4 cm long; pedicels 1-1.5 cm long, slender, ca. 0.5 mm in diameter at the base, ca. 1 mm in diameter at the apex, completely glabrous, articulated at the base in a small sleeve; pedicel scars irregularly spaced, some clustered at tips of inflorescence branches, others to 5 mm apart. Buds ellipsoid, the corolla strongly exserted from the calyx before anthesis. Flowers all perfect, 5-merous. Calyx tube 1-1.5 mm long, conical, the lobes 1-1.5 mm long, triangular, glabrous but the tips minutely papillate. Corolla 1.3-2 cm in diameter, white, fragrant (fide Mentz and Oliveira 2004), stellate, lobed 2/3 to 3/4 of the way to the base, the lobes 5-7 mm long, 2.5-4.5 mm wide, spreading at anthesis, densely papillate on the tips and margins, otherwise glabrous. Filament tube minute, the free portion of the filaments 1-1.5 mm long, glabrous, or with a few trichomes at the base (fide Mentz and Oliveira 2004); anthers 4-6.5 mm long, ca. 1 mm wide, ellipsoid, yellow, loosely connivent, poricidal at the tips, the pores usually lengthening to slits with age. Ovary glabrous; style 7-9 mm long, glabrous; stigma minutely clavate, the surface minutely papillose. Fruit a globose or depressed-globose berry, 0.5-0.9 cm in diameter, red or pale reddish pink when ripe, the pericarp thin and shiny, the juice staining scarlet; fruiting pedicels 1-2-1.5 cm long, ca. 1 mm in diameter at the base, slightly woody, pendent. Seeds few per berry, ca. 3 mm long, ca. 3 mm wide, flattened reniform, pale yellow or straw-colored, the surfaces minutely pitted. Chromosome number: not known.

Distribution

( Figure 50 ). Endemic to southeastern Brazil from the states of São Paulo to Rio Grande do Sul, from 800-1600 m.

Ecology.

Occurring in Atlantic rainforest (mata atlântica), Araucaria forests and in secondary forests.

Conservation status.

Least Concern (LC); EOO>100,000 km2 (LC) and AOO>10,000 km2 (LC). See Moat (2007) for explanation of measurements.

Discussion.

Solanum inodorum has long been considered an isolated species in Solanum . Bitter (1919) put it (as Solanum decorticans ) in his large and heterogenous section Anthoresis as subsection Lysiphellos , a reference to the striking exfoliating bark. Solanum inodorum is a striking plant, not easily confused with any other species of Solanum . The yellowish, exfoliating bark and the pseudo-axillary inflorescences (see below) make it easily distinguished from Solanum flaccidum and Solanum odoriferum , with which it is broadly sympatric. The specific epithet is a misnomer, as both this species and Solanum odoriferum have fragrant flowers ( Mentz and Oliveira 2004).

The inflorescence of Solanum inodorum appears to be axillary like the inflorescences of members of section Pteroidea (the Solanum mite group of the Potato clade, see Knapp and Helgason 1997), but is in fact terminal on a fore-shortened axillary shoot. The leaves of this shoot are vestigial and soon deciduous, but can occasionally be seen in young shoots. This morphology of inflorescences borne terminally on short shoots is found in other members of the Dulcamaroid clade such as Solanum valdiviense of Chile.

Lectotypification of Vellozo names, in the absence of specimens ( Carauta 1973), is best done with the plates from that work ( Vellozo 1831); in this case the plate is easily identifiable as Solanum inodorum ( Figure 51 ). Sendtner’s epithet " decorticans " is represented by two syntypes ( Schott s.n. from “Sebastianopolis” and Sellow s.n. from "Brasilia australis"). I have only been able to find the Sellow collection and select a well-preserved sheet (K000438190) as the lectotype of Solanum decorticans .

Specimens examined.

Brazil. Minas Gerais: Poços de Caldas, 25 Mar 1920, Hoehne 3831 (US); Ouro Fino, 10 May 1927, Hoehne 19543 (US); Delfim Moreira, São Francisco dos Campos, 12 Jun 1950, Kuhlmann 2504 (F); Caldas, 18 Apr 1886, Regnell II 221 (K, LE, S, US). Paraná: Tijucas do Sul, Palermo, 20 Aug 1999, Barbosa et al. 355 (B, MO); roadside of highway 116 about 40 km NE of Curitiba, 1000 m, 5 Jan 1974, Conrad & Dietrich 2070 (MO); Campina Grande do Sul, Cerne, 17 Aug 1988, Cordeiro & Budziak 562 (S); Adrianópolis, Parque das Lauráceas, próximo ão Rio Caratuva, 28 Jul 1999, Cruz & Abe 136 (B, G); Ipiranga, Serra do Mar, 2 Sep 1911, Dusén 12114 (F, GH, S, SI); São José dos Pinhais, Vossoroca, 15 Aug 1951, Hatschbach 2465 (US); Palmeira, Colonia Wietmarsum, 950 m, 23 Sep 1962, Hatschbach 9827 (B, US); Campina Grande do Sul, Serra do Lapinha, 4 Aug 1963, Hatschbach 10151 (B); Palmas, Santa Bárbara, 19 Oct 1966, Hatschbach 15018 (F); Mandirituba, Areia Branca dos Assis, 1 Sep 1986, Kummrow & Cordeiro 2796 (G); São José dos Pinhais, Col. Santos Andrade, 15 Jun 1982, Oliveira 548 (MO); Balsa Nova, Serra São Luis do Purunã, 7 Oct 1996, Poliquesi & Barbosa 597 (MA); Rio Grande do Sul: Canela, Gramado, 13 Jun 1937, Rambo 2236 (B); São Francisco de Paula, Fazenda Engelbert, 2 Jan 1954, Rambo 56264 (B); São Francisco de Paula, Taimbé, 1000 m, 18 Dec 1950, Sehnem 5148 (B, US); São Francisco de Paula, Aratinga, Oct 1984, Sobral 3211 (F); Rio de Janeiro: Itatiaia, km 12, 1700 m, 29 May 1935, Brade 14654 (B); Itatiaia, Parque Nacional de Itatiaia, Trilha para os Tres Picos, 19 Oct 2010, Fraga et al. 2885 (K); Parque Nacional de Itatiaia, Donat, Jul 1953, Pereira et al. 74 (F); Rio do Funil, 2 Oct 1952, Pereira s.n. (US); Nova Friburgo, Macaé de Cima, caminho para a Pedra Bicuda, 3 Aug 1989, Pessoa et al. 474 (BM, F); Santa Catarina: Azambuja, Brusque, 70 m, 11 Aug 1953, Klein 540 (B); Pilões, Palhoça, 200 m, 2 Aug 1956, Reitz & Klein 3549 (B); Brusque, 100 m, 20 Sep 1948, Reitz 3550 (F); Pirão Frio, Sombrio, 10 m, 11 Jul 1959, Reitz & Klein 8920 (G); Rio dos Patos, Lebon Régis, 900 m, 13 Jul 1962, Reitz & Klein 13224 (B); São Paulo: Serra do Japi, Jundiaí, 27 Jun 1988, Buzato 20633 (K); Cantareira, 28 Jun 1919, Hoehne 3375 (US); Mata do Governo, 8 May 1924, Hoehne 9715 (US); Parque do Estado, 26 Oct 1931, Hoehne 29800 (BH, US); Interlagos, 12 Jul 1954, Hoehne s.n. (G); Interlagos, 12 Jul 1954, Hoehne SPF 15383 (F); Osasco, Cemeterio Parque de Paz, 26 Jul 1985, Leitao Filho & Rodrigues 17694 (CORD); Campos de Jordão, Dec 1948, Leite (US); São Carlos do Pinhal, 17 Mar 1888, Loefgren 719 (US); Campos de Bocaina, 19 Apr 1894, Loefgren & Edwall 2462 (US); Pico de Jaraguá, 25 km NW from Sao Paulo City, 29 Sep 1979, Mizoguchi 985 (MO); Jardim Botânico, nativa no Jardim Botanico e Parque do Estado, area 30, 21 May 1974, Silva 297 (F); Avenida Paulista, 21 Oct 1906, Usteri 15a (US); Serra do Japi, 13 Jun 1988, Vasconcellos Neto 20401 (K).

Figures

Figure 49. Solanum inodorum Vell. (A-F drawn from Hatschbach 26839 G drawn from Reitz & Klein 5290). Illustration by Bobbi Angell.

Figure 50. Distribution of Solanum inodorum Vell.

Figure 51. Lectotype of Solanum inodorum Vell. (Vellozo 1831: tab. 107). Reproduced with permission of the Natural History Museum Botany Library.