Solanum stipulatum
Not known
SE Brazil, in coastal rainforest often growing in rocky creek beds, from 100-700 m.
Solanum stipulatum is a member of the Solanum confine species group (Knapp, 2002) of the Geminata clade (Bohs, 2005).
Vellozo, J.M. da Conceiçao. 1827. Florae fluminensis icones figs. 1-156.
Senefleder, Paris.
Sendtner, O. 1846. Solanaceae.
Pp. 1-228 in C. P. F. von Martius, Flora Brasiliensis. 10: 5-338. C. Wolf, Munich, Germany.
Knapp, S. 2002. Solanum section Geminata (G. Don) Walpers (Solanaceae).
Flora Neotropica 84: 1-405.
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.
Solanum stipulatum is morphologically most similar to S. leptopodum of Amazonia, sharing with that species difoliate, geminate sympodial units with markedly smaller minor leaves. It is convergent with other species of section Geminata growing in river courses (see S. amnicola, S. imberbe, and S. monadelphum) but this similar leaf shape is related to habitat, not to any real indication of relationship between these species. Solanum stipulatum is an easily recognized species, with its short internodes, striking oblong-lanceolate leaves, and white bark.
Sendtner, in his treatment of Solanum for Flora brasiliensis (1846), chose to ignore the Vellozo name, because he felt the plate in the Florae fluminensis (Vellozo, 1831) was a poor one ("icon mala"). The plate is stylized, as are all the plates in Vellozo’s Florae fluminensis, but it clearly represents the same taxon as that named by Sendtner. The name was actually proposed by Martius, and perhaps Sendtner invented a reason to ignore the Vellozo name, so as not to offend his patron. The Vellozo plate shows a plant with winged stems with short internodes and oblanceolate to obovate leaves, both characteristic features of S. stipulatum, but the leaves are not geminate, as they always are in S. stipulatum. The inflorescences of the plant in the plate are depicted as axillary and one-flowered, while those of S. stipulatum are leaf-opposed and 3-8-flowered. In describing S. apodum, Dunal cited a Bowie and Cunnningham specimen in "herb. Banks", now housed at BM. There are no sheets of S. stipulatum collected by Bowie and Cunningham at BM, but a sheet collected by Sellow (see above) has a label in Dunal’s hand, indicating he saw this material. The description of S. apodum matches this sheet, and so is here designated as the lectotype.
Several varietal and subspecific epithets were noted on specimens by Bitter (in sched.) but never published. These in general were based on the extremes of leaf morphology in the species, which is quite striking.