Lycianthes coffeifolia [Bitter ]

Lycianthes coffeifolia

Citation author:

Bitter

Citation:

Abh. Naturwiss. Vereine Bremen 24 [preprint]: 432. 1919.

Type:

Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot. 6: 374. 1917. Type: Brazil, Rio Acre bei Monte [Mó], Nov 1911, Ule 9737 (holotype: B [probably destroyed, photo F0BN002566, acc. # 9737]; isotypes: K [K000585765], US [00027875]).

Last edited by:

Jennifer Poore

Written by:

Ellen Dean

Habit:

Herb, subshrub to climbing shrub, erect, to 2 (4) m tall. Stems green when young, compressed and ribbed when dried, becoming woody with age, glabrous to sparsely pubescent with small, white to rusty, uniseriate, multicellular, simple, curved, eglandular, appressed-ascending trichomes 0.1-0.25 mm long.

Sympodial structure:

Upper sympodial branching points mono- or dichasial. Upper sympodial stem units 1-8 cm long, 1-3 mm in diameter, difoliate, the leaves usually geminate.

Leaves:

Leaves simple, usually paired and unequal in size, the larger ones with blades 6-20 x 2-7 cm, the blades elliptic to obovate, the smaller ones 1.5-5 x 0.8-2.5 cm, the blades ovate, elliptic, or obovate, chartaceous to thick chartaceous, mostly glabrous at maturity, veins 3-6 on each side of midvein; base cuneate to shortly attenuate, sometimes oblique; margin entire; apex acute to acuminate; petioles 0.2-1 cm long.

Inflorescences:

Flowers in groups of (1) 2-7, axillary, the axes glabrous to sparsely pubescent with trichomes like those of the stem to 0.25 mm long; peduncles sometimes present, to 2 mm long; pedicels 6-12 mm and erect to arching in flower, to 25 mm long and erect to arching in fruit.

Flowers:

Flowers 5-merous, all perfect, oriented facing upward to horizontally. Calyx 2-3 mm long, 3-4 mm in diameter, obconic to campanulate, glabrous to sparsely pubescent, the margin truncate, with 10 spreading to reflexed appendages 0.5-2 mm long emerging 0.5-1 mm below rim, the rim often prominent; fruiting calyx usually enlarged, widely campanulate to bowl-shaped, 2-3 mm long, 4-5 mm in diameter, the appendages 0.5-2 mm long (sometimes broken), curved downward, exposing the calyx rim. Corolla 0.8-1.1 cm long, open orientation unknown, perhaps campanulate, stellate in outline, divided nearly half-way to the base, white, the lobes with sparse interpetalar tissue, glabrous. Stamens equal, filaments 1-1.5 mm mm long, glabrous; anthers 4 mm long, linear-lanceolate, the tips narrowed, connivant to one another at their edges, easily separated, yellow, glabrous, poricidal at the tips, pores round, dehiscing distally. Ovary glabrous; style ca. 6 mm, linear, straight, glabrous; stigma truncate.

Fruits:

Fruit a berry, 7-13 mm long, 4-10 mm in diameter, oblong to ovoid, orange to red at maturity, glabrous, lacking sclerotic granules.

Seeds:

Seeds ca. 7-40 per fruit, 3-4 mm long x 2-3 mm, flattened, depressed ovate with shallow notch on one side, tan to orange, with serpentine pattern on surface.

Chromosome number:

Not known.

Distribution:

Lycianthes coffeifolia occurs in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru in tall, humid tropical forest, often in primary forest, in upland forest or near rivers or on floodplains in waterlogged soil or in swamp, 150-700 m in elevation.

Phenology:

Specimens with flowers and mature fruits have been collected most months of the year. The timing of the diurnal movements of the corolla is unknown, but as most corollas are closed on most specimens, the corollas are probably closed for most of the day and open just early in the morning.

Commentary:

Lycianthes coffeifolia is a species of the humid low forest of northwest South America. It was placed in Lycianthes series Piliferae by Bitter (1919), due to its few-flowered inflorescences, shrub habit, simple trichomes, and stamens of equal length. However, it is probably not closely related to L. pilifera (Benth.) Bitter, L. quichensis (J.M.Coult.& Donn.Sm.) Bitter, and L. caeciliae Bitter, high-elevation cloud forest species of Mexico and Guatemala that make up the core part of that series (Dean et al. 2019). Lycianthes coffeifolia does resemble the lower elevation L. stephanocalyx (Brandegee) Bitter of Mexico and Central America, also placed in series Piliferae by Bitter (Dean et al. 2019); the two species share arching slender pedicels in flower and fruit, white stellate corollas, and connate/connivant yellow anthers. The unusual calyx of L. coffeifolia is similar in structure to that of L. connata J.L.Gentry of Mexico and Guatemala in having appendages that curve downward exposing a long rim (Dean et al. 2020). However, the close relatives of L. coffeifolia remain unknown.

References:

Bitter G. 1919. Die Gattung Lycianthes. Abhandlungen herausgegeban vom Naturwissenschaftlichen Verein zu Bremen 24 [preprint]: 292–520.

Dean, E., D. M. McNair, G. Castillo-Campos, T. Starbuck, M. A. Aguiano-Constante, K. Mawdsley, M. Véliz-Pérez, F. Archila. 2019. Identification of the Mexican species of Lycianthes series Piliferae (Capsiceae, Solanaceae) and the rediscovery of Lycianthes caeciliae. Phytotaxa 425: 163–189.

Dean, E., J. Poore, M. A. Anguiano-Constante, M. H. Nee, T. Starbuck, A. Rodrigues, and M. Conner. 2020. The genus Lycianthes (Solanaceae, Capsiceae) in Mexico and Guatemala. PhytoKeys 168: 1–333.

Common names and uses:

Not known.

Solanaceae Source

A global taxonomic resource for the nightshade family

Solanaceae

Lycianthes coffeifolia Bitter

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