Solanum campechiense [L. ]

Solanum campechiense

Citation author:

Citation:

Sp. Pl. 187. 1753.

Type:

Solanum campechiense, calycibus echinatis in Dillernius, Hortus elthamensis 361, t. 268, f. 347. 1732. (lectotype, designated by Knapp & Jarvis, 1990). Typotype material in Sherard herbarium (OXF).

Last edited by:

Nee, M.

Written by:

Nee, M.

Habit:

Annual herb, much-branched and spreading, becoming slightly woody below, up to 1 m tall; internodes 3.5–8.5 cm long. Stems sparsely to densely tomentose with nearly sessile to thick-stalked, porrect-stellate hairs, the stalks to 1.3 mm long, the rays 4–9, 1.5–2.5 mm long, about the same length as the midpoints or somewhat shorter, often with much smaller sessile stellate hairs and short simple, often gland-tipped hairs, abundantly armed with acicular prickles to 1 cm long.

Sympodial structure:

Sympodia 2-foliate, geminate.

Leaves:

Leaves simple, the blades 4–13 x 3–12 cm, ovate, thin-textured, tomentose adaxially with sessile 4–6-rayed sessile stellae, with larger stipitate stellae on the main veins, the midpoints often gland-tipped, more densely tomentose abaxially with 4–10-rayed sessile stellae and with larger stipitate stellae on the larger veins; abundantly armed with straight prickles; base cordate; margin with 2–4 pairs of lobes, divided 1/3–1/2 way to midrib, the lobes with additional coarse, acute teeth or shallow lobes; apex obtuse to acute; petioles 1–5 cm, with pubescence and prickles like that of the stem.

Inflorescences:

Inflorescences to 0.5-2 (–5) cm, unbranched, with 1–3 (–6) flowers, only the lowermost flower (rarely two) perfect, the upper ones staminate, the axes pubescent with hairs and prickles like those of the stem; peduncle 0–1 (-4 )cm; rachis 0–10 mm; pedicel of fertile flower 8-10 mm in anthesis, 10–15 mm in fruit, gradually dilated to 3 mm in diameter at the apex, not articulate, the staminate flowers clustered at the apex, commonly 0.5 cm above the perfect one.

Flowers:

Flowers with the calyx radius 6-7 mm, the tube 3-4 mm, the lobes ca. 4-5 x 2 mm, narrowly triangular, acute at tips, densely stellate-pubescent, the male flowers with a few small prickles, the perfect flowers densely armed with straight acicular prickles to 6 mm long; fruiting calyx in perfect flowers up to 15 x 7 mm at base, somewhat accrescent and partially enclosing the berry. Corollas 1-1.5 cm in diameter, ca. 7mm long, rotate-campanulate, thin-textured, blue, bluish white, or lilac, the tube 2 mm, the lobes 4 x 5 mm, deltoid, apiculate at apices, with abundant interpetalar tissue, finely stellate-tomentose abaxially, glabrous adaxially. Stamens with filaments 1.5 mm; anthers 2-5 x 1-1.5 mm, tapered, all 5 strongly curved upward at the tip, yellow, dehiscent by minute terminal pores. Ovary glabrous; style in fertile flowers ca. 3-10 x 0.5-1 mm, curved like the anthers and exceeding them by a few mm, glabrous except for a few small stellae at the base; stigma clavate.

Fruits:

Fruits 1.5 cm in diameter, globose, light green with darker mottling when immature, purple or greenish at maturity, glabrous.

Seeds:

Seeds numerous, 1.8–3 x 1.4–2 mm, irregularly reniform, yellowish-brown to dark brown, the surface pustulate.

Distribution:

Southernmost Texas, both coasts of Mexico, Guatemala to Costa Rica; Greater Antilles; Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, often along muddy edges of ephemeral lakes and streams in tropical dry forest, 0-100 (-900) m in elevation. There are several records from coastal Brazil, but they remain suspect: Brazil. Rio de Janeiro: "data probably doubtful" in handwriting of C. V. Morton and printed label with "Plantae Brasiliae et Indiae occidentales" with the latter crossed out, 4 Dec (fl), Carvalho s.n. (GH). Rio Grande do Sul: Porto Alegre, in ruderalis prope Alfandega, Apr 1897 (fl), E. M. Reineck s.n. (E). The Reineck collection would seem to be a solid record, but there are also specimens of S. persicifolium Dunal collected at Porto Alegre, ad margines viarum prope Arraial da Gloria, Nov 1898 (fl,fr), E. M. Reineck s.n. (E) and cidade da Bahia, ad margines prope Alfandega, Oct 1899 (fl,fr), E. M. Reineck s.n. (E), so that either Reineck was recording stray waifs of these West Indian species at Brazilian port towns, or the labels are incorrect.

Phylogeny:

Solanum campechiense belongs to the Leptostemonum clade of Solanum (Bohs, 2005, Levin et al., in press), which corresponds for the most part to Solanum subgenus Leptostemonum (Dunal) Bitter. This group includes species that have prickles and stellate hairs. Molecular data do not resolve the relationships of S. campechiense within the Leptostemonum clade (Levin et al., in press). The calyx with acicular prickles, growth form and leaf lobing are reminiscent of S. sisymbriifolium Lam., and it was placed with this and two other species in subgenus Leptostemonum section Melongena subsect. Cryptocarpum (Dunal) G. Don by Nee (1999). The curved anthers and ridged seeds also indicate a possible relationship to sect. Androceras, a section centered in Mexico.

Commentary:

Solanum campechiense can be distinguished from other New World spiny Solanum species by its small stature, abundant straight prickles, and deeply lobed leaves with serrate margins. The fruits apparently turn purplish when ripe. In Chiapas, the label of López & Hernández s.n. (MEXU) says that “Se comen la fruta los peces cuando sube el nivel de agua”. The seeds differ from the usual yellow and slightly foveolate; the surface cells seem inflated and probably serve for flotation of a species often found on mud flats or edges of drying ponds. Specimens have been seen which begin flowering when the plants are only 2 cm tall.

Plants of S. campechiense from Costa Rica may have flowers with smaller anthers than specimens from Mexico and Guatemala, based on the measurements in Nee (1993) and Gentry and Standley (1974), but this remains to be documented by examining herbarium specimens from these areas.

References:

Gentry, J.L., Jr., & P.C. Standley 1974. Solanaceae.
In Flora of Guatemala. Fieldiana: Botany 24, Part X, Numbers 1 and 2: 1-151.

Knapp, S. & C.E. Jarvis 1990. The typification of the names of New World Solanum species described by Linnaeus.
J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 104: 325-367.

Nee, M. 1993. Solanaceae II.
Flora de Veracruz 72: 1-158. Instituto de Ecología, Xalapa, Veracruz.

Nee, M. 1999. Synopsis of Solanum in the New World.
Pp. 285–333 in M. Nee, D. E. Symon, R. N. Lester & J. P. Jessop (eds.), Solanaceae IV: Advances in Biology and Utilization. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

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.

Levin, R.A., N.R. Myers, & L. Bohs 2006. Phylogenetic relationships among the "spiny" solanums (Solanum subgenus Leptostemonum).
Amer. J. Bot. 93: 157-169.

Genetics:

Nuclear ITS sequence: GenBank AF244728 (voucher: Bohs 2536, UT). (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/viewer.fcgi?db=nucleotide&val=7533148) Nuclear waxy sequence: GenBank AY996389 (voucher: Bohs 2536, UT). Chloroplast trnS-trnG sequence: GenBank AY998388 (voucher: Bohs 2536, UT). Chloroplast ndhF sequence: GenBank AF224071 (voucher: Bohs 2536, UT) (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/viewer.fcgi?db=nucleotide&val=7025415)

Solanaceae Source

A global taxonomic resource for the nightshade family

Solanaceae

Solanum campechiense L.

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