Lycianthes ciliolata (M.Martens & Galeotti) Bitter, Abh. Naturwiss. Verein Bremen 24 [preprint]: 410. 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

11 Lycianthes ciliolata (M.Martens & Galeotti) Bitter, Abh. Naturwiss. Verein Bremen 24 [preprint]: 410. 1919 Fig. 28

Solanum ciliolatum M.Martens & Galeotti, Bull. Acad. Roy. Sci. Bruxelles 12: 140. 1845. Type: Mexico. Oaxaca: Cordillère orientale de’Oaxaca, dans les bois de la Sierra de Capulalpan et de Llano Verde, Rocheu de Castrasana, de 6,000 à 7,000 pieds, Sep 1840, H. Galeotti 1230 (lectotype designated by Dean 2004 pg. 399: BR [000000552873]; isolectotypes: BR [000000552906, 000000552842]).

Solanum somniculentum Kunze ex Schltdl., Linnaea 19: 306. 1847. Type: Germany. Grown by G. Kunze in the Leipzig Botanical Garden from seed brought from Mexico by C.A. Ehrenberg, 1845, G. Kunze s.n. (lectotype designated by Dean 2004, pg. 399: W [acc. # 0074704]; isolectotype: HAL [acc. # 100603]).

Solanum andrieuxii Dunal, Prodr. [A. P. de Candolle] 13(1): 165. 1852. Type: Mexico. No exact locality (probably from southern Puebla or Oaxaca), 1832?, G. Andrieux 195 (holotype: G-DC [G00145630]; isotype: M [M0171802, mistakenly listed as the holotype in Dean (2004)]).

Lycianthes ciliolata (M.Martens & Galeotti) Bitter var. pratorum Bitter, Abh. Naturwiss. Verein Bremen 24 [preprint]: 411. 1919. Type: Guatemala. Baja Verapaz: Patal, 1600 m, H. von Tuerkheim II 2317 (lectotype designated by Dean 2004 pg. 399: W [acc. # 9874]; isolectotypes: BR [000000552875], E [E00570142], F [0072905F, acc. # 574699], G [G00343162], MO [acc. # 3834546], NY [00023650], US [00479453]).

Lycianthes mociniana Dunal var. andrieuxi (Dunal) Bitter, Abh. Naturwiss. Verein Bremen 24 [preprint]: 409. 1919. Type: Based on Solanum andrieuxii .

Lycianthes somniculenta (Kunze ex Schltdl.) Bitter, Abh. Naturwiss. Verein Bremen 24 [preprint]: 411. 1919. Type: Based on Solanum somniculentum Kunze ex Schltdl.

Lycianthes somniculenta (Kunze ex Schltdl.) Bitter var. lanceolata Bitter, Abh. Naturwiss. Verein Bremen 24 [preprint]: 414. 1919. Type: Mexico. Oaxaca: no exact locality, 1842, Ghiesbrecht 81 (holotype: P [P00070404]).

Type.

Based on Solanum ciliolatum M.Martens & Galeotti.

Description.

Perennial herb from fusiform storage roots, usually erect (0.1) 0.2-0.6 (1 m) tall, dying back each season. Indument of white, uniseriate, multicellular, simple or dendritically branched, eglandular, spreading to appressed trichomes 0.1-1 (1.5) mm long. Stems greenish purple, sparsely to moderately pubescent, usually not much compressed upon drying in a plant press, woody with age, especially at the base of the plant; first stem 5-60 cm long to the first inflorescence, the internodes 4-10 (19); first two sympodial branching points dichasial, followed by monochasial branching, this usually extensive. Leaves simple, those of the upper sympodia usually paired and unequal in size, the larger ones with blades 2-14 × 1-7 cm, the smaller ones with blades 1/4 to 3/4 (to equal) the size of the larger, the leaf pairs similar in shape, the blades ovate, lanceolate, or elliptic, (rarely obovate), chartaceous, sparsely to moderately pubescent, the primary veins 4-7 on each side of midvein, the base truncate, obtuse, or cuneate, attenuate onto the petiole, often slightly oblique, the margin entire, usually irregularly undulate, the apex acute to acuminate (rarely long-acuminate), the petiole of larger leaves winged and poorly defined, 0.3-2.5 cm long, sometimes absent. Flowers solitary, axillary, oriented horizontally; peduncles absent; pedicels 30-90 mm and erect in flower, (30) 40.5-80 (110) mm long and deflexed in fruit, sparsely to moderately pubescent with spreading to appressed-retrorse trichomes; calyx 2.5-4.5 mm long, (2.5) 3.5-5.5 (6.5) mm in diameter, obconic to campanulate glabrous to moderately pubescent, the margin truncate, with 10 linear, reflexed appendages 3-9 (11) mm long emerging ca. 0.5-1 mm below calyx rim; fruiting calyx enlarged, (1.5) 2-4 (6) mm long, 5-12.5 (14) mm in diameter, the appendages 3-11 mm long, reflexed, often broken; corolla 1.1-2.7 cm long (2.1-5.3 cm in diameter), rotate in orientation, mostly entire in outline (with shallow notches), with abundant interpetalar tissue, lilac, with maroon to purple stripes along the major veins adaxially, green near the major veins abaxially, usually glabrous; stamens unequal, straight, the filaments of three lengths, the two shortest filaments 1(0.5) 1-3.5 (4.25) mm long, the two medium filaments 1-4.5 (5.5) mm long, the one long filament (2) 3-7 (8) mm long, the length of the long filament nearly always 1.8-3 times that of medium filaments (rarely 1.5-1.8 times), glabrous, the anthers (3) 4-6.25 (8) mm long, lanceolate to oblong, free of one another, yellow, glabrous, poricidal at the tips, the pores linear to ovate, usually dehiscing distally or toward the style, not opening into longitudinal slits; pollen grains dicolporate with remnant third pore; pistil with glabrous ovary, the style 9-12 (13) mm long, linear, straight to slightly curved, glabrous, the stigma round to weakly bilobed (in Oaxaca) to very bilobed (in Guatemala). Fruit a berry, remaining attached to calyx at maturity, pendent, 14-39 mm long, (7) 9-22 mm in diameter, ovoid to conic, the exocarp dark purple to rose-colored, glabrous, the mesocarp rose-colored or dark purple, soft and juicy, lacking sclerotic granules, the placental area light purple and powdery. Seeds (8) 30-80 (102) per fruit, 2.9-4.1 × 2.5-3.9 mm, not compressed, depressed obovate, ridged and blistered along one side, black, the surface reticulum rough in texture with loose serpentine pattern and deep luminae.

Chromosome number.

2n = 24 from Dean 271, 295 ( Dean 2004)

Distribution and habitat.

Mexico (Chiapas, Guanajuato, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí) and Guatemala (Baja Verapaz, Huehuetenango, Totonicapán), in oak or oak/pine forest (that may be intermixed with palms, Juniperus or Yucca ) or in xerophilous scrub in southern Mexico, on slopes, in drainages, in canyons, along paths, and in agricultural fields, on limestone soils, 755-3000 m in elevation (Fig. 29 ).

Phenology.

Flowering specimens have been collected June to October, depending on region. Specimens with mature fruits have been collected between September and November. The first author observed in the field that the corollas are open in the very early morning and closed by late morning. The pollen has a sweet scent. Solitary bees in the genera Thygator and Pseudoaugochloropsis visit this species ( Dean 2001).

Common names and uses.

Mexico. Hoh, yich hoh, yichjoj, tintolón, ma’ ‘u’ dsea nuu jgiaa, u dsea niquia, yich balam, guì in-dèm, ngûd-dèm, guizh-dam, kuan xille bekue, campanilla, chichi de vaca, chichi de perro, chichi de venado, binduchi, binduchito, rshtisti katya, tronchichi, tonchicho, manzanillo del campo, shashasto, la pera, chile de ratón. People eat the fruits of this species in the states of Puebla, Oaxaca, and Chiapas. The edible fruits are gathered from wild plants, often from plants growing as volunteers in agricultural fields ( Dean 2004).

Preliminary conservation status.

Lycianthes ciliolata is a widespread species ranging from central Mexico to Guatemala represented by 117 collections and occurring in six protected areas. Anguiano-Constante et al. (2018) provided a preliminary conservation assessment of Least Concern (LC).

Discussion.

Lycianthes ciliolata is similar to L. rzedowskii and L. acapulcensis . It differs from those species in having lilac rather than white corollas (or the very pale lilac sometimes found in L. rzedowskii ). The pattern of filament lengths can also be useful in separating it from L. rzedowskii . In L. ciliolata the longest stamen filament is often more than twice as long as the medium-short filaments, while in L. rzedowskii the longest stamen filament is less than twice as long as the medium-short filaments. The lengths of the pedicels of the youngest mature flowers relative to their subtending leaves is often a useful character for separating L. ciliolata from L. acapulcensis . In the latter, the length of those pedicels is usually less than that of the subtending leaves, while in L. ciliolata the length of the pedicels generally exceeds that of the leaves ( Dean 2004).

Representative specimens examined.

Guatemala. Baja Verapaz: Patal, 1600 m, H. von Tuerkheim 2317 (W, BR, E, F, G, MO, NY, US). Huehuetenango: Cerro Pixpix, above San Ildefonso, Ixtahuacan, [15.4675, -91.8116], 1600-200 m, 15 Aug 1942, J.A. Steyermark 50597 (NY no #). Totonicapán: Cerro María Tecum, Sierra Madre Mountains, 10-20 km east of Totonicapán, [14.8959, -91.2636], 3100-3400 m, 16 Dec 1962, L.O. Williams 23156 (MO). Mexico. Chiapas: Col. Carrizal, 700 m al oriente de la Escuela, 16.6575, -92.6975, 2250 m, 6 Jun 1995, H. Mejía 429 (XAL). Guanajuato: Rancho Beltrán, 10 km al oeste de Xichu, [21.3164, -100.0987], 2000 m, 9 Dec 1990, E. Ventura 6473 (XAL). Oaxaca: Santa María Jaltianguis, [17.361, -96.5282], 7200 ft, 20 Oct 1991, E. Dean 295 (DAV, IEB, MEXU). Puebla: hills to the SW of the city of Tehuacán, up dirt road near El Riego, [18.4433, -97.4235], 1677 m, 27 Sep 1991, E. Dean 272 (DAV). San Luis Potosí: Los Aguajitos, 11 km al NE de Guadalcázar, hacia Pozo de Acuña, 22.625, -100.3167, 2000 m, 17 Nov 1996, R. Torres C. 14874 (MEXU).

Figures

Figure 28. Image of herbarium specimen of L. ciliolata, Dean 227 (DAV). Image used with permission of the UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity.

Figure 29. Map of geographic distribution of L. ciliolata based on herbarium specimen data.