Lycianthes dejecta [(Fernald) Bitter ]

Lycianthes dejecta

Citation author:

(Fernald) Bitter

Citation:

Abh. Naturwiss. Vereine Bremen 24 [preprint]: 415. 1919. Type: Based on Solanum dejectum Fernald.

Type:

Based on Solanum dejectum Fernald.

Last edited by:

Jennifer Poore

Written by:

Ellen Dean

Habit:

Perennial herb, decumbent to erect, decumbent forms to 0.5 m in diameter, tall forms often scrambling, supported by nearby shrubs, to 0.7 m tall, dying back to very large, fusiform storage roots. Stems green with darker green and purple striations, generally nonwoody except at base and much compressed when dried, moderately to densely pubescent with white, uniseriate, multicellular, simple, dendritically branched, and multangulate-stellate, eglandular, spreading trichomes 0.1–0.5 (0.75) mm long, 0.5–0.75 mm in diameter, the rays of the multangulate trichomes 3–4 per whorl, straight, often rebranched.

Sympodial structure:

First stem 1-35 cm long to the first inflorescence, 2-11 mm in diameter, leaves spirally arranged, internodes 2-7 (13) in number; first sympodial branching point dichasial, followed by a mixture of monochasial and dichasial branching, this branching extensive. Upper sympodial stem units to 3-18 cm long, 2.5-8 mm in diameter, difoliate, the leaves often geminate.

Leaves:

Leaves simple, usually paired and unequal in size, the larger ones with blades to 3.5-14.5 x 2-8.5 cm, the smaller ones with blades ca. 1/4-3/4 the size of the larger, the leaf pairs similar in shape, the blades ovate, deltate, or reniform, chartaceous, moderately to densely pubescent with trichomes similar to those of the stem; major veins 3-5 on either side of the midvein; base truncate, cuneate, attenuate, decurrent onto the petiole, slightly oblique; margin entire, usually slightly undulate; apex acute; petioles winged and poorly defined, 2-5.5 cm long.

Inflorescences:

Flowers solitary, axillary, the axes moderately to densely pubescent with spreading trichomes 0.1-0.5 mm long; peduncles absent; pedicels 29-80 (115) mm and erect in flower, (35) 50-110 (125) mm long and deflexed in fruit.

Flowers:

Flowers 5-merous, all perfect, oriented horizontally. Calyx 2.5-4 mm long, 2.5-6 mm in diameter, obconic, moderately to densely pubescent, the margin truncate, with 10 linear, somewhat reflexed appendages (1) 2-7 (8) mm long emerging ca. 0.5 mm below the calyx rim (usually obscured by trichomes); fruiting calyx enlarged, (5) 6-10 (11.5) mm long, (9) 11-20 (23) mm in diameter, the appendages reflexed to curved, often broken, (3.5) 4–15 (19) mm long. Corolla 1-2.2 cm long (1.9-4.1 cm in diameter), rotate in orientation, mostly entire (with shallow notches) in outline, with abundant interpetalar tissue, white to lilac, with maroon to purple stripes along the major veins adaxially, green, white, or purple and densely pubescent near the major veins abaxially. Stamens unequal, the filaments of three different lengths, straight to curved, the two shortest filaments (1.25) 1.5-4 mm long, the two medium filaments (1.5) 2-5 mm long, the one long filament (2) 3-7.5 mm long, the length of the long filament 1.1-1.8 (2) times that of the medium filaments, glabrous; anthers 3-6 mm, ovate to lanceolate, free of one another, yellow, glabrous, poricidal at the tips, pores ovate, dehiscing distally, not opening into longitudinal slits; pollen tricolporate. Ovary glabrous; style (6) 7-11.5 mm, linear, straight to curved downward; stigma lobed.

Fruits:

Fruit a berry, 17-39 mm long, 12-24 mm in diameter, ovoid to conic, the exocarp light to dark green with purple or black lines (becoming yellowish or brown in age), the mesocarp white to green and juicy, lacking sclerotic granules, the placental area narrow, greenish-white, juicy; fruit remaining attached to the calyx at maturity, pendant, the fruits sometimes near the ground.

Seeds:

Seeds (40) 50-170 (185) per fruit, 2.2-2.8 x 1.5-2.5 mm, rounded, slightly compressed, reniform to depressed-obovate, dark brown to black, surface with serpentine pattern with microscopic fibrils protruding.

Chromosome number:

2n=24 ( Dean 2004: vouchers Dean & Starbuck 276, 309.)

Distribution:

Lycianthes dejecta occurs in Mexico (states of Baja California Sur, Distrito Federal and states of Nuevo León, Durango, Guanajuato, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Jalisco, Michoacán, Hidalgo, Oaxaca, and Puebla) on limestone on either side of the transvolcanic belt, as well as in eroded, ancient agricultural areas within the transvolcanic belt (rarely on rhyolite), usually in matorral vegetation; it has also been found in disturbed relictual tropical forest (bosque tropical caducifolio or oak/acacia forest). It has been suggested that eroded volcanic areas within the Valley of Mexico are often home to calciphiles, because erosion has exposed a lower soil layer that is calcium rich (Rzedowski, 1986). Habitats include pastures, paths, the sides of agricultural fields, and within abandoned fields at 1800-2900 m.

Phenology:

Flowering June to August; fruiting September to October. The author observed in the field that the corollas open after sunrise and close by early afternoon.

Commentary:

Lycianthes dejecta is easily recognized by its dense, highly-branched trichomes which cover all parts of the plant. The truncate lamina bases are distinctive as well. Its fruits and seed type are similar to those of L. moziniana (Dun.) Bitter. It differs from that species in having maroon to black lines on its fruits, reflexed to curled calyx appendages, and microscopic fibrils on its seeds. All parts of this plant have a bitter taste, even the fruits.

References:

Anguiano-Constante MA, Munguía-Lino G, Ortiz E, Villaseñor JL, Rodríguez A (2018) Riqueza, distribución geográfica y conservación de Lycianthes serie Meizonodontae (Capsiceae, Solanaceae). Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad 89(2): 516–529.

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

Dean, E. 2001. The post-anthesis floral biology of Lycianthes series Meizonodontae (Solanaceae): variation in filament elongation, anther dehiscence, floral movement, and corolla growth. In: van den Berg R, Barendse G, van der Weerden G, Maríani C (Eds) Solanaceae V, Advances in Taxonomy and Utilization. Nijmegen University Press, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 137–151.

Dean, E. 2004. A taxonomic revision of Lycianthes series Meizonodontae (Solanaceae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 145: 393-399.

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.

Rzedowski J. 1986. Las plantas calcícolas (incluyendo una gipsófita) del Valle de México y sus ligas con la erosión edáfica. Biotropica 18(1): 12-15.

Common names and uses:

Common names: trompeta, chichi de perra (Dean, 2004). Used to treat stomachache in Guanajuato (Ocampo 47).

Other information:

The pollen in this species has a sweet scent. Solitary bees in the genus Colletes visit this species (Dean 2001).

Conservation status:

Lycianthes dejecta is a widespread Mexican endemic, represented by 55 collections and occurring in three protected areas (Sierra la Laguna, Sierra Gorda and Tehuacán-Cuicatlan Valley). Anguiano-Constante et al. (2018) provided a preliminary conservation assessment of Least Concern (LC).

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Lycianthes dejecta (Fernald) Bitter

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