Solanum tanysepalum
Citation:
Brittonia 38: 284. 1986.
Type:
Venezuela. Aragua: Parque Nacional Henri Pittier, Portachuelo to Pico Periquito trail, W of Estación Biológica Rancho Grande, premontane to montane rainforest, 1100-1400 m, 10 21'N, 67 42'W, 22 Oct 1984, Knapp & Mallet 6856 (holotype, MY; isotypes, BH, K, NY, US, VEN).
Last edited by:
Knapp, S.
Written by:
Knapp, S.
Habit:
Shrubs, 1-2.5 m tall; young stems and leaves minutely red-papillose; bark of older stems greyish, often transversely peeling.
Sympodial structure:
Sympodial units difoliate, geminate.
Leaves:
Leaves elliptic to ovate, widest at or just proximal to the middle, glabrous on both surfaces, the upper surfaces shiny, the lower matte, drying reddish; major leaves 10-20 x 4-9 cm, with 5-7 pairs of main lateral veins, prominent above and below, the apex acuminate, the base oblique, acute to rounded; petioles 1.5-5 cm long; minor leaves differing from the major ones only in size, 2.5-3.5 x 1.5-2 cm, the apex acute, the base rounded; petioles 3-5 mm long.
Inflorescences:
Inflorescences opposite the leaves, sessile, with 1-2 flowers arising directly from the swollen node; pedicel scars on the node, closely spaced, corky. Buds ellipsoid, the calyx lobes long-acuminate and enclosing the corolla until just before anthesis. Pedicels at anthesis pale green, 1.5-2 cm long, strongly 5-ribbed, rather thick and fleshy, ca. 1 mm in diam. at the base.
Flowers:
Flowers with the calyx tube 1-1.5 mm long, 5-ribbed, the lobes extremely long-acuminate, also ridged with the ribs of the pedicel, glabrous; corolla white, 1.2-1.5 cm in diam., lobed ca. 3/4 of the way to the base, the lobes planar or with the tips slightly reflexed at anthesis, the tips hooded, the tips and margins of the lobes densely papillose; anthers 3-3.5 mm long, the terminal 0.5 mm paler and thickened, ca. 1 mm wide, poricidal at the tips, the pores tear-drop shaped; free portion of the filaments ca. 0.5 mm long, the filament tube minute, not visible in most specimens; ovary glabrous; style straight, 6-8 mm long; stigma capitate, bright green in live plants, minutely papillose.
Fruits:
Fruit a globose to ellipsoid, green berry, ca. 1 cm in diam., often with the persistent style base on top; fruiting pedicels woody and erect, 2.5-3.5 cm long, ca. 1 mm in diam. at the base; calyx lobes persistent and somewhat woody in fruit, 0.5-1 cm long.
Seeds:
Seeds not known from mature fruits.
Distribution:
In the cloud forests of the Cordillera de la Costa in Venezuela, from 1000-1700 m.
Phylogeny:
Solanum tanysepalum is a member of the Solanum arboreum species group (Knapp, 2002) of the Geminata clade (Bohs, 2005).
References:
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 tanysepalum is closely related and vegetatively extremely similar to S. ripense of western Andean Venezuela. Sterile specimens are nearly impossible to distinguish. Solanum ripense however, is a large treelet to 10 m tall in high cloud forest above 2000 m, while S. tanysepalum is always a small shrub of forest understory at somewhat lower elevations. Solanum tanysepalum is easily distinguished from S. ripense when reproductive by its sessile inflorescences, strongly five-ridged pedicels, long-acuminate calyx lobes, and often elliptic berries. Solanum tanysepalum grows in forests with S. ombrophilum (S. confine species group), but is usually the less common where the two occur together.