Lycianthes shanesii (F.Muell.) A.R.Bean, Austrobaileya 6(3): 568. 2003.

Knapp, Sandra, 2022, A revision of Lycianthes (Solanaceae) in Australia, New Guinea, and the Pacific, PhytoKeys 209, pp. 1-134 : 1

16. Lycianthes shanesii (F.Muell.) A.R.Bean, Austrobaileya 6(3): 568. 2003.

Figs 48 , 49

Solanum shanesii F.Muell., Fragm. 6: 144. 1868. Type. Australia. Queensland: Rockhampton, 25 Feb 1868, P. O’Shanesy #6, ser. 1 (lectotype, designated by Symon and Clarkson 1985, pg. 204: MEL [MEL12404]).

Type.

Based on Solanum shanesii F.Muell.

Description.

Shrubs or small trees 2-8 m tall, with single trunks to 10 cm diameter at breast height; stems terete, glabrous, with prominent white lenticels; new growth minutely puberulent with simple uniseriate golden 2-4-celled trichomes less than 0.5 mm long; bark of older stems pale greyish brown, blistering and peeling on older stems. Sympodial units difoliate, the leaves geminate, the leaves of a pair similar in shape, differing only somewhat in size. Leaves simple; blades of major leaves 7-12 cm long, 2.5-7.2 cm wide, elliptic to elliptic-obovate, broadest in the upper half or rarely at the middle, membranous, concolorous; adaxial surfaces completely glabrous; abaxial surfaces completely glabrous; principal veins 5-6 pairs, these sometimes purple abaxially (fide Clarkson 4586); base attenuate onto the petiole; margins entire (undulate fide Clarkson 4586); apex acute to acuminate; petiole 1-2.5 cm long, winged from the attenuate leaf base, with a few golden trichomes less than 0.5 mm long near the base; blades of minor leaves 2.5-7.5 cm long, 1-5.3 cm wide, like the major leaves in shape, texture, and pubescence; petioles 0.5-1.5 cm long. Inflorescences axillary fascicles with (1)2-3 flowers, minutely puberulent with a few golden simple uniseriate trichomes like those of the new growth; pedicels 1.2-1.7 cm long, ca. 1 mm in diameter at the base, ca. 2 mm in diameter at the apex, spreading at anthesis, almost completely glabrous, but often with a few golden simple uniseriate trichomes like those of stems along their length, articulated at the base; pedicels scars tightly packed in the leaf axils. Buds ellipsoid to fusiform with pointed tips, the corolla ca. halfway exserted from the calyx tube before anthesis, in young buds the calyx completely closed. Flowers (4)5-merous, heterostylous, the plants possibly andromonoecious (fide Symon and Clarkson 1985). Calyx with the tube ca. 3 mm long, ca. 4 mm wide, openly cup-shaped, with no appendages, the hyaline calyx rim ca. 0.5 mm wide, often irregularly torn and apparently 4-5-lobed, glabrous or with a few scattered simple trichomes like those of the pedicels. Corolla 1.6-2 cm in diameter, dark purple with the midveins darker than the surrounding tissue, stellate, lobed ca. 3/4 of the way to the base, thin edge of interpetalar tissue present, the lobes 7-7.5 mm long, 2.5-3 mm wide, spreading, glabrous on both surfaces except for the densely papillate, cucullate tips. Stamens equal or slightly unequal (fide Symon and Clarkson 1985); filament tube minute; free portion of the filaments 1-1.2 mm long, glabrous; anthers 4-4.5 mm long, 1-1.25 mm wide, ellipsoid and slightly tapering at the tips, yellow, poricidal at the tips, the pores tear-drop shaped, elongating to slits with age. Ovary conical, glabrous; style in long-styled flowers ca. 6 mm long, straight, glabrous, in short-styled flowers ca. 1.5 mm long, glabrous; stigma minutely capitate, the surface minutely papillate. Fruit a globose berry, 1.3-1.5 cm in diameter, bright red when mature, the pericarp glabrous, thin, shiny and somewhat translucent; fruiting pedicels 1.8-3.5 cm long, 1-2 mm in diameter at the base, 2-4 mm in diameter at the apex, somewhat woody, spreading or slightly hanging from the weight of the berries; fruiting calyx a plate with an undulate margin (appearing “ruffly”) subtending the berry, somewhat stiff and woody, the margins appearing lobed. Seeds 50-100 per berry, 3.5-4.5 mm long, 3-3.5 mm wide, flattened reniform, pale yellowish tan, the margin darker and thickened and the seed looking almost winged, the body of the seed shallowly pitted, the margins with the testal cells deeper, the testal cells with sinuate margins. Stone cells absent. Chromosome number: n=12 ( Symon and Clarkson 1985; voucher Clarkson 4585).

Distribution

(Fig. 50 ). Lycianthes shanesii is endemic to Australia from central eastern Queensland and the York Peninsula.

Ecology and habitat.

Lycianthes shanesii grows in deciduous and semi-deciduous forests ("closed forest pockets" fide Symon and Clarkson 1985) and monsoon forests and is relatively common where it occurs; from sea level to 450 m elevation.

Common names.

None recorded.

Preliminary conservation assessment

( IUCN 2020). EOO (349,347 km2 - LC); AOO (196 km2 - EN). Lycianthes shanesii is known from more than 10 localities and has quite a wide distribution on the eastern coast of the Cape York Peninsula and on islands in the Torres Strait; populations occur in lands managed by aboriginal peoples for conservation. This suggests a preliminary threat status of Least Concern (LC) but documentation of threats to the dry forests of northern Australia may cause this to be modified.

Discussion.

Lycianthes shanesii was described based only on fruiting collections and not included in Bitter (1919) nor in Symon (1981a); Bitter, writing between the two World Wars in Europe, would not have had access to the specimens held in Australia, and Symon (1981a) thought it was a species of Capsicum . Later, Symon and Clarkson (1985) described it in full (as S. shanesii ) from Clarkson’s flowering Queensland collections, where the poricidal anthers clearly showed it was not Capsicum . Symon and Clarkson (1985) realised it was distinct from the taxa native to nearby New Guinea and suggested it was closely related to L. synanthera and L. heteroclita (Sendtn.) Bitter of Central America, rather than to other species from southeast Asia or New Guinea. They ( Symon and Clarkson 1985) discounted long-distance dispersal for the occurrence of L. shanesii (as S. shanesii ) in Australia.

Lycianthes shanesii was included in the Solanaceae -wide phylogeny of Särkinen et al. (2013) and resolved as sister to the clade of Lycianthes that included all the Asian species sampled ( L. biflora and L. lysimachioides (Wall.)Bitter) plus L. synanthera and other American species. Resolution of the relationship between Lycianthes and Capsicum has proved difficult (see Spalink et al. 2018), and none of the New Guinea or other southeast Asian taxa have ever been included in a phylogenetic analysis.

Like Lycianthes vitiensis , L. shanesii is a tree with a single trunk, unlike most of the New Guinea species that are shrubs or woody vines. Lycianthes shanesii grows in deciduous or semi-deciduous forests, rather than the wet, mossy forests inhabited by the other taxa treated here. It can be distinguished from L. vitiensis by its sparse, golden pubescence on the new growth and young stems; L. vitiensis has dense, tangled, reddish brown pubescence on stems and young leaves. The inflorescence of L. shanesii is strictly axillary and few-flowered while that of L. vitiensis has a short axis and is many-flowered.

The flower buds of Lycianthes shanesii resemble those of L. rostellata of New Guinea in being long-ellipsoid and somewhat beaked and the anthers are large (4-4.5 mm long in L. shanesii and 5-6 mm long in L. rostellata ) and similarly tapered at the tips. Lycianthes shanesii is easily distinguished from L. rostellata in its distribution and habitat, and also by the wider corolla lobes (3-4 times longer than wide in L. shanesii , 4-5 times longer than wide in L. rostellata ). Lycianthes shanesii also clearly differs in the pubescence of young stems; L. rostellata has dense, stiff antrorse pubescence on young stems while L. shanesii has sparse, golden trichomes on the young stems.

Symon and Clarkson (1985) cited Symon (1981b) as the designation ( “proposal”) of the lectotype for Solanum shanesii . The citation of lectotype in Symon (1981b) is ambiguous and could refer to either of the two syntypes ( O’Shanesy 6 ser. 1 or Dallachy 435), thus I consider the explicit citation of the O’Shanesy collection as lectotype in Symon and Clarkson (1985) as the effective lectotypification of this name.

Specimens examined.

Australia. Queensland: Mount Stuart , 9 km S of Townsville, 14 Dec 1991 , Bean 3865 (AD, BRI); South Kennedy, Hazelwood Gorge , 13 km SSW of Eungella, 15 Dec 1992 , Bean 5271 (BRI); Wigton Island , c. 50km NE of Mackay, 28 Jun 2000 , Bean & Champion 16706 (BRI); Cook, 11.8 km N of the Palmer River on the Peninsula Development Road , 450 m, 23 Dec 1981 , Clarkson 4217 (AD, BRI, DNA, K, MBA, MEL, QRS); 11.7 km N of the Palmer River on the Peninsula Development Road , ca. 500 NE of the road, 450 m, 14 Mar 1983 , Clarkson 4585 (AD, BRI, CANB, K, MBA, MEL, MO, NSW, QRS), 14 Mar 1983, Clarkson 4586 (AD, BRI, K, MBA, QRS), 31 Jan 1984, Clarkson 5131 (AD, BRI, CANB, K, QRS); 3.4 km N of Spear Creek on the Peninsula Development Road, 11.3 km N of the Palmer River Crossing, 4 Mar 1987 , Clarkson & McDonald 6674 (BRI, QRS); 12 km from the East Normanby River crossing on the Lakeland Downs to Cooktown road, 6 Mar 1987 , Clarkson & McDonald 6768 (BRI, QRS); Dauan Island, Mount Cornwallis , 17 Feb 1993 , Clarkson 7813 (AD, BRI, CANB, DNA, MO, NSW); Mt White , c. 2 km SSW of Coen, 20 Dec 1989 , Clarkson 8205 (AD, BRI, MBA, MEL, QRS); North Kennedy, Granite Ironbark Hill , high range army training area, 31 Dec 1996 , Cumming 15486 (BRI); Mt Fox , 18 Feb 1997 , Cumming 15841 (BRI); Rockhampton , 17 Mar 1863 , Dallachy 345 (MEL, P); Cook, Hannibal Island, near Shelburne Bay , ca. 16 km W of Helby H, 3 Jul 1969 , Done s.n. (BRI); Browns Peak, 75.4km ENE of Lakefield Homestead, Starcke Pastoral Holding (GR 7868-661813) RF site 49, Cape York Peninsula , 9 May 1993 , Fell et al. 3232 (BRI); Cape Melville National Park NP 4 Eumangin / Temple Creek catchment, 11.5km NW of Barrow Point, 79.2 km NNE of Lakefield Ranger Base , 4 May 1994 , Fell 4314 (BRI); Altanmoui Range, Cape Melville National Park, 1.6 km E of Flat Hill, 62.6 km NE of Lakefield Ranger Base , 4 May 1994 , Fell & McDonald 4354 (BRI); Pulu Islet, off western shore of Mabuiag Island, Torres Strait , 14 Apr 2009 , Fell 10000 (BRI, CNS, DNA); South Kennedy, Mount Bella Vista , 17 Dec 1992 , Fensham 579 (BRI); Leichhardt, ‘Clifton’, northern Boomer Range , 7 Feb 1993 , Fensham 718 (BRI); Back Creek, “Killarney”, Connors Range , 1 Mar 1993 , Fensham 749 (AD, BRI); Leichhardt, ' Fort Cooper' , 7 Apr 1993 , Fensham 823 (BRI); Cook, NPR166, Black Mountain, Helenvale Road, Site 17, 12 Mar 2001 , Ford & Holmes 2647 (BRI); Port Curtis, Camoo Caves , 11 Jun 1989 , Forster & Tucker. 5108 (BRI); SF 471, Mount Coulston , 4 Oct 1989 , Forster & Bean 5808 (BRI); Pine Mountain, State Forest 79, 21 Apr 1991 , Forster 8012 (BRI, MEL); Cook, Possum Scrub , 22 Jun 1994 , Forster & Tucker 15280 (BRI); Bolt Head, Temple Bay , 26 Jun 1996 , Forster 19385 (BRI); 1.5 mls E of the highway, Byerstown Range, May 1980 , Godwin C-881 (QRS); Kings Plains Station, Barron Range SW of Cooktown, 7 Jun 1983 , Godwin C-2416 (QRS); Maitland Downs Holding , 560 m, 26 Jan 1989 , Gray 4972 (DNA, MO, QRS), Gray 4974 (QRS); Yam Island, Torres Strait , 8 Feb 1989 , Gray 4981 (QRS); Kum Kum Range, Nychum Station , 6 Apr 1996 , Gray 6706 (QRS); OK Mine Road, 11 km from Burke Developmental Road , 2 Apr 2002 , Gray 8068 (QRS); Cook, Great Barrier Reef, Restoration Rock, near Cape Weymouth , Portland Roads , 24 Jul 1969 , Heatwole s.n. (BRI); Great Dividing Range , S of Byerstown, 10 Jun 1971 , Hyland 5222 (QRS); Lankelly Creek Road, 6 Apr 1976 , Hyland 8713 (QRS); Mutee Head , 26 May 1981 , Hyland 11071 (QRS); Maitland Downs Holding, Parish of Byerstown , 13 Dec 1988 , Hyland 13764 (QRS), 11 Mar 1993, Hyland, B. 14694 (QRS); Mt White, Coen , 22 Apr 1993 , Hyland 14781 (QRS); Haggerstone Island , 10 May 1994 , Hyland. 15119 (QRS); About 10 km north of the Palmer River Roadhouse, 12 Feb 1997 , Hyland 15534 (BRI, QRS); Mt White, Coen , 20 Jan 2000 , Hyland 16345 (BRI, QRS); Maitland Downs Holding , 29 Sep 1988 , Hyland 25551 RFK, (QRS), 13 Dec 1988, Hyland 25640 RFK (BRI, QRS); Cook, Cooktown Development Road opposite Bonnie Glen Station turnoff, 8 Jun 1996 , Jago 4014 (BRI); Unnamed basalt-capped hill on Springvale Station, adjacent to Plum Tree Creek , 13 Mar 2017 , Kerrigan 1343 (CNS); North Kennedy, Upper slopes of high ridge, ca. 3.5km SW of Earlando, Dryander National Park , 2 Jun 1994 , McDonald & Champion 5862 (BRI); 3.4 km N of Spear Creek on the Peninsula Development Road. 11.3 km N of the Palmer River crossing, 4 Mar 1987 , McDonald 6674 (AD); 12 km from the east Normanby River crossing on the Lakeland Downs to Cooktown road, 6 Mar 1987 , McDonald 6768 (AD); Rocky knob just S of the divide on the Palmer River road, 23 Nov 1972 , Nicholson AFO-4776 (QRS); Port Curtis, Mt Archer, Rockhampton , 12 Mar 2003 , Nicholson NJN 455 (BRI); Rockhampton , 1 Feb 1869 , O’Shanesy s.n. (MEL); Cook, King’s Plain Stn, Mt Emily , 9 Jan 2014 , Roberts KRM-15160 (BRI); Mt Pinnacle , 4 Mar 1987 , Sankowsky 615 (QRS); Port Curtis, over hanging path to caves, Olsen’s Capricorn Caves, Olsen’s caves Rd , The Caves , 12 Feb 2014 , Shapcott & Howard MGH-40 (BRI); Colosseum Cave, Mt Etna Caves NP, N of Rockhampton, 1 Apr 1993 , Thomas 8951 (BRI); 18 km NNW of Gladstone , 2 Mar 1997 , Thompson & Turpin GLA-22 (BRI); Middle Percy Island , 5 Mar 1906 , Tryon s.n. (BRI); Olsens' Caves , 1 Feb 1989 , Vavryn s.n. (BRI); Cammoo Caves , 1 Jan 1987 , Vavryn 17 (BRI); Cook, Cooktown Developmental Road-Sackleys Hill , 6 Jan 2002 , Wannan & Jago 2328 (BRI, NSW); Seisia Village, Northern Peninsula Area , 17 Jan 1998 , Waterhouse 4806 (BRI, DNA), 12 Mar 1999, Waterhouse 5114 (CANB), Waterhouse 5114 (BRI, DNA); tributary of Mossman River , 25 km S of Laura, 8 Mar 2017 , Worboys 1344 (CNS).

Figures

Figure 48. Lycianthes shanesii (F. Muell.) A. R. Bean. Drawing) by M. L. Szent-Ivany, first published in Symon and Clarkson (1985, as S. shanesii F. Muell.). Courtesy of the Board of the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium (Adelaide, South Australia), reproduced with permission.

Figure 49. Lycianthes shanesii herbarium specimen. Australia. Queensland: Clarkson 4217 (K 001155235). Courtesy of the Trustees of the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, reproduced with permission.

Figure 50. Distribution of Lycianthes shanesii.