Solanum alphonsei Dunal

Knapp, Sandra, 2013, A revision of the Dulcamaroid Clade of Solanum L. (Solanaceae), PhytoKeys 22, pp. 1-432 : 48-51

3. Solanum alphonsei Dunal , Prodr. [A.P. de Candolle] 13(1): 70. 1852, as “alphonsi” Figure 12

Solanum alphonsei Dunal var. taguatagua Dunal, Prodr. [A.P. de Candolle] 13(1): 70. 1852. Type: Chile. Sin. loc., C. Bertero 635 (holotype: P [P00319395, Morton neg. 8142, G neg. 39141]).

Solanum germainii Phil., Linnaea 29: 23. 1858, as " germaini " Type: Chile. Región Metropolitana: Prov. Santiago, mountains near Aculeo [ “Aculco”], R.A. Philippi s.n. (holotype: SGO [SGO-55447, Dept. Invest. Agrícolas neg. s.n.]; isotypes: B [destroyed, F neg. 2732], LE, MA [MA-533038]).

Solanum tenuicaule Phil., Anales Univ. Chile 91: 13. 1895. Type: Chile. sin. loc., Anon. [R.A. Philippi?] s.n. (lectotype, designated here: SGO [SGO-55451, barcode SGO000004604]).

Type.

Switzerland. Cultivated in Geneva, 1834, originally from Chile (lectotype, designated here: G-DC [G00144607].

Description.

Woody vine or lax shrub to 1 m tall. Stems erect or spreading, glabrous or with simple uniseriate glandular trichomes to 0.5 mm, these denser at the nodes, the glands 1-celled and soon deciduous; new growth glabrous to minutely glandular puberulent. Bark of older stems green to reddish brown, glabrous. Sympodial units plurifoliate. Leaves simple or more often shallowly and irregularly pinnatifid, (0.5-)1.5-5 cm long, (0.5-)1-3(-5) cm wide, narrowly elliptic to elliptic or rhomboid, membranous, occasionally slightly fleshy, both surfaces glabrous or with scattered simple uniseriate trichomes on the lamina, these denser along the margins; primary veins 4-5(-7) pairs, often drying reddish brown; base acute or truncate; margins entire or shallowly lobed in the basal half, the lobes divided less than halfway to the midrib; apex acute to more often rounded; petioles 0.5-1 cm long, glabrous to pubescent with simple uniseriate glandular trichomes, apparently twining. Inflorescences terminal or later lateral, 2-6.5 cm long, many times branched, openly divaricate, with up to 30 flowers, glabrous or pubescent with glandular simple uniseriate trichomes to 1 mm long; peduncle 0.5-3 cm long; pedicels 0.6-1 cm long, ca. 0.5 mm in diameter, slender, nodding at anthesis, glabrous, articulated at the base from a small sleeve, leaving a tiny peg on the inflorescence axis; pedicel scars irregularly spaced 2-12 mm apart. Buds globose when young, later ellipsoid, the corolla strongly exserted from the calyx before anthesis. Flowers all perfect, 5-merous. Calyx tube ca. 1.5 mm long, shallowly cup-shaped, the lobes 1-1.5 mm long, deltate with elongate tips, the sinuses splitting irregularly, glabrous or minutely glandular puberulent. Corolla 1-1.5 cm in diameter, white, stellate, lobed nearly to the base, the lobes 5-7 mm long, 3-4 mm wide, planar or slightly cupped at anthesis, densely papillate-puberulent on the tips and margins, the trichomes sometimes extending over entire abaxial surface. Filament tube minute, the free portion of the filaments ca. 0.5 mm long, glabrous; anthers ca. 3 mm long, 1.5 mm wide, ellipsoid, loosely connivent, yellow, poricidal at the tips, the pores lengthening to slits with age. Ovary glabrous; style 6-7 mm long, glabrous; stigma capitate, to ca. 0.5 mm in diameter, the surface minutely papillose. Fruit a globose berry, ca. 0.8 cm in diameter, orange or reddish orange when ripe, glabrous, the surface shiny and thin; fruiting pedicel ca. 1 cm, deflexed to spreading. Seeds 15-20 per berry, ca. 1.5 mm long, 2 mm wide, flattened reniform, pale tan, the surfaces minutely pitted, the testal cells broadly sinuate in outline. Chromosome number: not known.

Distribution

( Figure 13 ). Solanum alphonsei occurs in southern Chile and possibly also adjacent Argentina, from sea level to the summit of the Andes at ca. 3000 m.

Ecology.

In Nothofagus Blume ( Nothofagaceae ) forest and forest margins.

Conservation status.

Vulnerable (VU); EOO <20,000 km2 (EN) and AOO <2,000 km2 (VU). See Moat (2007) for explanation of measurements.

Discussion.

Solanum alphonsei is one of three species of the Dulcamaroid group found in the Nothofagus forests of southern Chile (and probably also from adjacent Argentina); the others are Solanum valdiviense and Solanum crispum . Solanum alphonsei differs from Solanum valdiviense in being a vine with non-angled stems and twining petioles, in having open and divaricately branched inflorescences and in its leaves that are rhombic or deltate in outline. The corollas of Solanum alphonsei are in general smaller than those of Solanum valdiviense , and are less deeply lobed. Solanum crispum is much more common than either of the other two species, and can be distinguished from Solanum alphonsei by its larger flowers, denser pubescence and larger inflorescences. Solanum alphonsei is much less commonly collected than is Solanum valdiviense . An extreme form of Solanum alphonsei with tiny leaves was given the herbarium name of “myrtilloides” by Witasek on a specimen in Vienna.

Dunal named Solanum alphonsei for Alphonse de Candolle, the editor of the Prodromus and son of his mentor from Montpellier, Agustin Pyramus de Candolle. Philippi named Solanum germainii after Philibert Germain, the Chilean botanist and collector. Both original spellings are correctable ( McNeill et al. 2012).

No specimens were cited in the original description of Solanum alphonsei , but the material was said to have been cultivated in Geneva in 1834. The specimen in G-DC [G00144607] is dated 1834, and is chosen here as the lectotype. Other sheets in P, G, G-DC and BM from plants cultivated in Geneva are dated differently and are thus not type material. They could, however, have been collected from the same individual plant, and could be considered topotypes.

Specimens examined.

Chile. Región VI ( O’Higgins): O’Higgins, Rancagua, La Leonera, 760 m, 9 Dec 2001, Aedo 7072 (MA); Rancagua, Mar 1828, Bertero 639 (P); San Fernando, Philippi s.n. (G, K). Región VII (Maule): Cauquenes, Hacienda de Cauquenes,, 20 Aug 1896, Dusén 57 (S); prov. Curico, Cordillera de la Costa, Sep 1897, Witasek s.n. (W).

Figures

Figure 12. Solanum alphonsei Dunal. (A-H drawn from Anon. s. n., Mar 1858, BM). Illustration by Bobbi Angell.

Figure 13. Distribution of Solanum alphonsei Dunal.