Solanum maglia

Citation author:

Schltdl.

Citation:

Hort. Hal. 1: 6. 1841.

Type:

Chile. [Region V]: Valparaíso, seashore, 1828, E. Poeppig 72, Diar. 105 (lectotype, P00336977 [Correll neg. 740, BM000881923, F-1603866, NY, UC1152331; Hawkes unnumbered neg., G00086400], designated by Hawkes and Hjerting, 1969: 422; isolectotypes, BM000617835, G [F unnumbered photo, MO-1691255], W-104912 [Correll neg. 570, BM000881926, F-1603498, LL, NY, UC1152331], W-282832 [Correll neg. 569, BM000881925, F-1603499, LL, NY, UC1152331]).

Last edited by:

Spooner, D.M.

Written by:

Spooner, D.M. & A. Clausen

Habit:

Herbs 0.5-1.5 m tall, erect. Stems 4-10 mm in diameter at base of plant, green to purple or slightly green and purple mottled, with wings 1-2 mm wide, invested with glandular and non-glandular multicellular trichomes; tubers typically borne singly at the end of each stolon.

Sympodial structure:

Sympodial units tri- to plurifoliate, not geminate.

Leaves:

Leaves odd-pinnate, the blades 16-28.6 x 8.5-19 cm, green, membranous to chartaceous, moderately pubescent with glandular and non-glandular multicellular trichomes adaxially and abaxially, margin ciliate; lateral leaflet pairs 0-3, gradually decreasing in size toward the leaf base; most distal lateral leaflets 3-13 x 1.6-5 cm, medium to broadly ovate to medium to broadly elliptic, the apex acute to acuminate, the base oblique to truncate to rounded, subsessile and broadly decurrent on the petiolule to petiolulate with petiolules up to 3 mm long; terminal leaflet 6-5-15.3 x 3.5-7.5 cm, medium to broadly ovate to medium to broadly elliptic, the apex acute to acuminate, the base shallowly cordate to truncate to cuneate; interjected leaflets 0-3, sessile to short petiolulate, ovate to orbicular, petiolules 0-5 mm; petioles 3-7.5 cm, pubescent as the stems. Pseudostipules 3-12 mm long, pubescent with hairs like those of the stem.

Inflorescences:

Inflorescences 5-15 cm, terminal with a subtending axillary bud, generally in the distal half of the plant, usually forked, with 10-16 flowers, with all flowers apparently perfect, the axes pubescent with hairs like those of the stem; peduncle 4-16 cm long, with a dense pubescence of trichomes; pedicels 10-21 mm long in flower and fruit, spaced 1-10 mm apart, articulated at about the middle.

Flowers:

Flowers homostylous, 5-merous. Calyx 3-5 mm long, the tube 1-2 mm, the lobes 1-4 mm, acute to attenuate, the acumens 1-2 mm long, with hairs like those of the stem. Corolla 2.3-3.3 cm in diameter, pentagonal to rotate, white abaxially and adaxially, the tube 1-2 mm long, the acumens 1-2 mm long, the corolla edges flat, not folded dorsally, glabrous adaxially, minutely puberulent abaxially, especially along the midribs, ciliate at the margins, especially at the tips of the corollas. Stamens with the filaments 1-2 mm long; anthers 3-4.5 mm long, lanceolate, anther tissue grading into the filaments, the anthers spreading apart and not connate, yellow, poricidal at the tips, the pores lengthening to slits with age. Ovary glabrous; style 7-8 mm x ca. 1 mm, exceeding stamens by 2-4 mm, straight, glabrous; stigma clavate to capitate.

Fruits:

Fruit unknown.

Seeds:

Seeds from living specimens ovoid and ca. 2 mm long, whitish to greenish in fresh condition and drying brownish, with a thick covering of “hair-like” lateral walls of the testal cells that make the seeds mucilaginous when wet, green-white throughout; testal cells honeycomb-shaped when lateral walls removed by enzyme digestion.

Chromosome number:

2n = 3x = 36 voucher: Juzepczuk s.n. (LE) (Hijmans, et al. 2007)
2n = 2x = 24 voucher: Clausen & Masueii 869 (BAL) (Hijmans, et al. 2007)

Distribution:

Solanum maglia is known from western Argentina (Prov. Mendoza); central and south Chile (Regions V, VII, VIII, IX, X). In Argentina S. maglia is found in a humid gorge close to a river that carries water the whole year, under the shade of the vegetation, bushes or ferns, in sandy and stony soil, 1400-1820 m. This gorge, unlike other gorges in that area, is deep and narrow with habitats shaded throughout the day. It is possible that the species is limited in Argentina to this locality. In Chile, it is found in coastal humid valleys, among rocks and sand, sea level to (estimated) 1200 m.

Phenology:

Flowering and fruiting throughout the year in lowland Chile and from January to March in Argentina.

Phylogeny:

Solanum maglia is a member of Solanum sect. Petota Dumort., the tuber-bearing cultivated and wild potatoes. On a higher taxonomic level, it is a member of the informally-named Potato Clade, a group of perhaps 200-300 species that also includes the tomato and its wild relatives (Bohs, 2005). Hawkes (1990) placed this species as the sole representative of series Maglia Bitter, focusing on the unique anther type for sect. Petota.

Commentary:

Mitotic chromosome counts made by Clausen of two of populations of S. maglia in Argentina (Clausen & Masuelli 869, 870) were diploid (2n = 24), in agreement with prior reports from the Argentinean populations (Brücher, 1965; Hawkes and Hjerting, 1969). Some Chilean populations are triploid (2n = 3x = 36) that reproduce only by tubers (Hawkes and Hjerting, 1969). Contreras (1987) did not report chromosome counts of the accessions held at the gene bank of the Universidad Austral de Chile. Spooner et al. (1991) collected tubers of S. maglia suspected to be triploid because the flowers dropped before producing fruits.

Solanum maglia has an interesting distribution. Most Chilean populations are in isolated moist habitats along the coast of Chile, and in Argentina it grown in a single valley in Argentina, Mendoza Province, Quebrada de Alvarado, at the base of the Andes Mountains (Hawkes and Hjerting, 1969; Contreras, 1987; Spooner et al., 1991). The populations in Argentina flowered freely, but no fruits were found. The only other tuber-bearing species growing in the vicinity of S. maglia in Argentina is S. kurtzianum, but usually in the Monte phytogeographical province, although recently Masuelli (pers. com) reported the finding of S. kurtzianum within this Quebrada.

Clausen and Masuelli made five collections of S. maglia along a distance of 5 km in the Quebrada de Alvarado, between 1630 and 1820 m (Spooner and Clausen, 1993). The plants were profusely flowering but not bearing fruits, and only tubers could be collected. Attempts to produce seeds by crossing the accessions brought into cultivation in a field station in Balcarce Argentina were unsuccessful. Crossability studies of these accessions of S. maglia with S. kurtzianum were carried out by Ispizúa, et al. (1999).

Solanum maglia is distinguished by its relatively broad leaflets, especially the terminal leaflet, and by its anthers with the tissue grading into the filaments rather than with distinct filaments.

References:

Brücher, H.E. 1965. Über eine "maritime" Wildkartoffel (S. maglia Molina) im argentinischen Anden-Gebirge.
Ber. Deutschen Bot. Gesells. 78: 492-498.

Hawkes, J.G. & J.P. Hjerting 1969. The potatoes of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay: a biosystematic study.
Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, UK.

Contreras-M., A. 1987. Germoplasma chileno de papas (Solanum spp.).
An. Simp. Recursos Fitogenéticos, Valdivia, 1984. Univ. Austral Chile, Int. Board P. Genet. Res.: 43-75.

Hawkes, J.G. 1990. The potato: evolution, biodiversity and genetic resources.
Oxford: Belhaven Press.

Spooner, D.M. & A. Clausen 1993. Wild potato (Solanum sect. Petota) germplasm collecting expedition to Argentina in 1990, and status of Argentinean potato germplasm resources.
Potato Res. 36: 3-12.

Ispizúa, V.N., E.L. Camadro & A.M. Clausen 1999. Pre-zygotic breeding barriers between the wild diploid potato species Solanum maglia and S. kurtzianum from Argentina.
Genet. Res. Crop Evol. 46: 243–249, 1999.

Bamberg, J., A. del Rio, Z. Huamán, S. Vega, M. Martin, A. Salas, J. Pavek, S. Kiru, C. Fernandez, & D.M. Spooner 2003. A decade of collecting and research on wild potatoes of the southwest USA.
Amer. J. Potato Res. 80: 159-172.

Bohs, L. 2005. Major clades in Solanum based on ndhF sequences.
Pp. 27-49 in R. C. Keating, V. C. Hollowell, & T. B. Croat (eds.), A festschrift for William G. D’Arcy: the legacy of a taxonomist. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden, Vol. 104. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

Hijmans, R., T. Gavrilenko, S. Stephenson, J. Bamberg, A. Salas & D.M. Spooner 2007. Geographic and environmental range expansion through polyploidy in wild potatoes (Solanum section Petota).
Global Ecol. Biogeogr. 16: 485-495.

Taxonomic name:

Solanum maglia (Solanaceae)

Solanaceae Source

A global taxonomic resource for the nightshade family

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