Solanum sanchez-vegae S.Knapp, 2010

Knapp, Sandra, 2010, Four New Vining Species of Solanum (Dulcamaroid Clade) from Montane Habitats in Tropical America, PLoS ONE 5 (5), pp. 1-8 : 5-6

Solanum sanchez-vegae S.Knapp , sp. nov.

[urn:lsid: ipni.org:names:77103635-1]

Type: Peru. Amazonas: Prov. Chachapoyas, W side of Cerros Calla-Calla, 45 km above Balsas, midway 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) .

Figure 3 , 4 .

Species Solano aureo Dunal similis, sed foliis laxe pubescentibus, floribus maioribus, stylis glabris, seminibus paucis, differt.

Woody vine or lax shrub, to 6 m; stems glabrous to sparsely pubescent with tangled loose dendritic trichomes 1–1.5 mm, these multi-celled and few branched; new growth pubescent with tangled dendritic trichomes 1–1.5 mm, occasionally almost completely glabrous; bark of older stems reddish brown, glabrescent. Sympodial units plurifoliate. Leaves simple, (2.52)5–12× (1.32) 2.5–5 cm, 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, stout, glabrous to sparsely pubescent, often drying dark in herbarium specimens. Inflorescences terminal, to 15 cm long and very broad, globose in outline, branched many times from very near the base, with 50– 100 flowers, glabrous to sparsely pubescent with loose dendritic trichomes; peduncle to 1 cm, the inflorescence branching very near the junction with the stem; pedicels 1.2–1.5 cm, 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, cup-shaped but abruptly narrowing from the pedicel, the lobes 1.5–2 mm, 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-pentagonal, lobed ca. halfway to the base, the lobes 8– 10× 4–7 mm, planar or slightly campanulate at anthesis, densely papillate and pubescent at the tips and margins, the hairs extending slightly along the midvein abaxially; filament tube, 0.2 mm, the free portion of the filaments 0.75–1.5 mm, glabrous and shiny; anthers 4.5–5× 1.5–2 mm, yellow, sagittate at the base, poricidal at the tips, the pores lengthening to slits with age; ovary glabrous; style 7–10 mm, 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 at 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× 3–4 mm, flattened reniform, reddish brown, the surfaces minutely pitted, the testal cells round-rectangular in outline.

Distribution. Solanum sanchez-vegae occurs in cloud forest, montane forest (‘‘ceja de selva’’ and ‘‘jalca’’) in the Andes of northern Peru south of the Huancabamba Depression around the middle Río Marañon valley, from 2500 to 3250 m.

Etymology. Solanum sanchez-vegae is named in honor of Don Isidoro Sanchez-Vega (CPUN), whose comprehensive in-depth knowledge of the flora of northern Peru was kindly and generously shared with all who crossed his path.

Preliminary conservation status. Solanum sanchez-vegae has a relatively narrow distribution, but within that it is relatively common, and it occurs in some protected areas such as Parque Nacional Abiseo.

Additional specimens examined. PERU. Amazonas: Balsas-Leimebamba road, km 406, 4 Jun 1977, Boeke 1927 ( MO) ; Prov. Chachapoyas, 29 Jul 1991, Mostacero et al. 2619 ( MO) ; Prov. Chachapoyas, Atuén, Chuquibamba , 18 Jul 1995, Quipuscoa & Bardales 187 ( BM, F, MO) ; middle eastern slopes, near kms 411–416 of Leimebamba-Balsas road, 11 Jul 1962, Wurdack 1314 ( K, USM) . Piura: Prov. Huancabamba, Procedencia , Cruz Blanca-Turnalina ., 5 Sep 1981, López M. & Ramírez 8926 ( BM) . La Libertad: Prov. Santiago de Chuco, Cerro La Botica, 9 Jun 1953, López M. 1011 ( US) ; Prov. Santiago de Chuco , 14 Jun 1984, Sagastegui et al. 11894 ( MO) ; Prov. Sanchez Carrión, alrededores de Huamachuco, 22 May 2001, Sagastegui & Zapata 16535 ( BM) ; Prov. Santiago de Chuco, 9 Jun 2001, Sagastegui et al. 16631 ( BM, F) ; Prov. Bolivar, junction of Quebrada Misquichilca and Quebrada Quisuar, 4 km SE Condormarca , 7 ° 009S, 77 ° 009W, 5 Jun 1986, Young 3554 ( K, USM) . San Martín: Prov. Huallaga, valley of Río Apisoncho [= Abiseo ] 30 km above Jucusbamba , 7 ° 559S, 77 ° 109W, 2 Sep 1965, Hamilton & Holligan 551 ( K) . Cajamarca : Prov. San Miguel, en los alrededores, Dist. Unión Agua Blanca , 9 Feb 2000, Alvítez I. et al. 1057 ( F) ; Prov. San Ignacio, base de Cerro Picorana, Dist. San José de Lourdes , 25 Aug 1999, Diaz et al. 10743 ( MO) ; Prov. San Miguel, alrededores (Agua Blanca), 5 Jul 1986, Mostacero L. et al. 1326 ( BM, F) ; Prov. Contumazá, sobre la ruta Salcat, Cascabamba-Pampa de la Sal , 30 Jun 1983, Sánchez Vega 3142 ( F, MO) ; Prov. Chachapoyas, (Agua Blanca), 12 May 1977, Sagastegui et al. 8804 ( MO) ; Prov. Contumazá, Contumazá-Cascabamba , 12 Jun 1981, Sagastegui et al. 9994 ( BM, MO) ; Prov. Cajamarca, SAIS, José Carlos de Mariátegui, km 20–40 on Sunchubamba-San Juan road, 5 Jun 1984, Smith & Sanchez Vega 752 .

Solanum sanchez-vegae is a striking species, with large purple flowers and shiny rubbery leaves ( Fig. 4 ). It has long been subsumed in the more common and widely distributed S. aureum Dunal , with which it is very similar. Solanum aureum differs from S. sanchez-vegae in its smaller flowers, generally denser and more congested pubescence of dendritic trichomes with many small, short branches (as opposed to loose dendritic trichomes with larger branches, see Fig. 3A ) and more northerly distribution. The ranges of S. aureum and S. sanchez-vegae slightly overlap in northern Peru, but in general S. aureum is an Ecuadorian species. I have previously identified specimens of S. sanchez-vegae as S. aligerum Schltdl. , a shrubby member of the Dulcamaroid clade with similar large, open inflorescences, but S. 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 S. dichroandrum Dunal , with which it shares loose pubescence and relatively large flowers; it differs from S. dichroandrum in its much larger (to 3 cm rather than to 2.5 cm) purple flowers ( Fig. 3D , 4 ), glabrous style ( Fig. 3E ) and few-seeded berries.

Figures

Figure 3. Solanum sanchez-vegae. A) portion of stem, B) petiole articulation, C) buds, D) open flower, E) flower cross-section showing stigma detail, F) anthers, G) fruit. A–F drawn from Smith & Sanchez-Vega 7524, G from Hutchison et al. 5738. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010502.g003

Figure 4. Solanum sanchez-vegae. Peru. La Libertad. A. Cano s.n. (photograph courtesy of A. Cano, USM). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010502.g004