Solanum parvifolium
Not known
Solanum parvifolium is widespread from the northwestern plains of New South Wales to Atherton in Queensland. It grows in Brigalow scrubs, vine thickets, in shrubby eucalypt woodland,at rainforest margins or in “wet sclerophyll” forest with shrubby understorey on a variety of soils.
Solanum parvifolium is a typical member of Solanum subgenus Leptostemonum. It is placed into the S. ferocissimum group (Group 13) by Bean (2004) on morphological grounds; its phylogenetic position has not been investigated using molecular data.
Symon, D.E. 1981. A revision of Solanum in Australia.
J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. 4: 1-367.
Bean, A.R. 2004. The taxonomy and ecology of Solanum subg. Leptostemonum (Dunal) Bitter (Solanaceae) in Queensland and far north-eastern New South Wales.
Austrobaileya 6 (4): 639-816.
Solanum parvifolium is most closely related to S. stelligerum, and apparently intergrades with it in the Rockhampton area and also in the Bunya Mountains-Warwick area in Queensland. Solanum parvifolium differs by its narrower leaves, 3.3-7.5 times longer than broad (vs. 1.8-3.5 times for S. stelligerum), tomentum not rusty (vs. at least some rusty coloured stellae on leaf undersides for S. stelligerum) and with stellae central ray (leaf undersides) 0.2-1 times as long as laterals (vs. 1.5-4 times as long as laterals for S. stelligerum), and the lack of long-stalked stellae on midrib of leaf undersides. Symon (1981) counted (17-)30(-37) seeds in 9 fruits.
Bean (2004) suggested that Symon’s (1981) selection of a lectotype was incorrect as Robert Brown only had made a single collection of this plant; however, three sheets exist of this collection, so lectotypification was indeed appropriate.
Two subspecies are recognised in Solanum parvifolium, and are distinguished by the following key:
Leaves (1.5-) 2.5-7 x 0.5-1.5 cm; very short, gland-tipped hairs absent; ovary with very short, gland-tipped hairs only; style 3.5-6.5 mm long; flowers all bisexual
S. parvifolium subsp. parvifolium
Leaves 7.5-13.5 x 1.3-3.5 cm; very short, gland-tipped hairs present; ovary either without indumentum or with both stellate hairs and very short, gland-tipped hairs; style 7-9 mm long; male flowers consistently present in the inflorescence
S. parvifolium subsp. tropicum
Typical S. parvifolium subsp. tropicum differs from S. parvifolium subsp. parvifolium by the longer and broader leaves, the upper leaf surface with very short, gland-tipped hairs, the longer pedicels, the ovary either glabrous or with both stellate hairs and very short, gland-tipped hairs, the longer style and the presence of male flowers in the inflorescence. Some collections, notably from the Forty Mile Scrub, are morphologically somewhat intermediate between the subspecies. The epithet of the subspecies comes from its tropical distribution relative to the species as a whole.
Conservation status: Widespread. Neither subspecies is considered at risk.