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(Last Modified On 5/15/2013)
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(Last Modified On 5/15/2013)
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Genus
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Lycianthes (Dun.) Hassl.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Ann. Conserv. Jard. Geneve 20: 173-183. 1917
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Synonym
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Otilix Raf., Med. Bot. 2: 87. 1828. TYPE: Solanum lycioides L. (S. licioides). Solanum subsect. Lycianthes Dun. in DC., Prodr. 13(1): 29, 156-183. 1852. LECTOTYPE: Solanum lycioides L. (= Lycianthes lycioides (L.) Hassl.). Parascopolia Baill., Hist. PI. 9: 338. 1888. TYPE: P. acapulcensis Baill.
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Description
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Herbs, shrubs or vines, mostly unarmed, glabrous or pubescent with various types of hairs.4 Leaves simple, entire or nearly so; minor leaves often present. Inflorescences solitary or fascicled in the leaf axils, few to many-flowered. Flowers with the calyx campanulate or cyathiform, apically truncate, 10-ribbed, the ribs giving rise to 0-10 teeth lateral on the calyx wall near the summit of the calyx, the teeth mostly 5 or 10, when 10 then often appearing in 2 series, not splitting at the sinuses in flower or fruit; corolla rotate, 5-lobed to various depths, the interplicate area sometimes thickened; stamens mostly 5, equal or unequal,
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Habit
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Herbs, shrubs or vines
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Description
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the filaments inserted on the short corolla tube, the anthers elongate, opening by small terminal pores, sometimes connate, rarely pubescent; ovary 2-loculed, the ovules few to many on proliferated placentae. Fruit a dry, pulpy or juicy berry, globose, ovate, or pyriform, not enclosed in the sometimes enlarged calyx; seeds compressed-discoid, the embryo circinnate around the periphery of the seed, the endosperm fleshy.
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Note
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The genus includes perhaps 200 species of mostly rare plants to judge from the small holdings in herbaria. Most species occur in tropical America, but a dozen or more species are found in the South Seas and in Asia. The Old World species appear to be very closely related to various American members of the genus. One or two species are occasionally cultivated for ornament, and a few may have local medicinal uses, but otherwise the genus is without known uses. Lycianthes has traditionally been confused with Solanum. First proposed as a genus by Hassler, the group was greatly amplified shortly after by Bitter (1919). Both Hassler and Bitter, who were collaborating, considered stone cell concretions in the fruit to be of diagnostic significance in establishing the genus. Bitter further argued that the stone cell concretions are an indication of primitiveness, being rudiments of ancestral drupaceous condition. The largest and best developed stone cells in Lycianthes are in fruits of L. acidochondra, one of the most ad- vanced members of the genus, and a Lycianthes-like fruit occurs in Solanum dimidiatum Raf. of the United States which is clearly far from the primitive stock of Solanumn. Stone cell concretions are not given much taxonomic weight by modern botanists, and they are not believed to be generically or even specific- ally consistent as held by Bitter. The nature of the Lycianthes calyx is of generic significance. Through fusion of the lateral veins leading from the traces vascularizing adjacent lobes and fusion of tissue of the sinuses, the calyx has become 10-ribbed and truncate at the apex. In many cases some or all of these ribs vascularize teeth of a secondary nature, which appear as enations of the calyx wall proximal to the truncate apex or sleeve. Sometimes these teeth are very long and slender, or in other cases thick and fignified, but in each case, the united portion of the calyx apex appears as a sleeve distal to the point of departure of the teeth. In still other cases, no lateral teeth are apparent, and the 10 ribs may not be superficially evident. The sleeve, or truncate calyx, and the frequent presence of 10 teeth are useful as field characters. Reasons for the small number of collections of Lycianthes are not understood. Perhaps the plants do not bloom frequently. In any case, present collections are not sufficiently numerous to determine to a satisfactory degree the range of variation occurring within the various taxa of the genus.
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Distribution
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Most species occur in tropical America, but a dozen or more species are found in the South Seas and in Asia.
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Reference
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Bitter, G. Die Gattung Lycianthes. Abh. Naturwiss. Vereine Bremen 21: 292- 520. 1919 [1920].
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Key
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a. Leaf undersides and most parts of plant with stellate or dendritic pubescence; pubescence apparent to the naked eye. b. Hairs of the upper leaf surface of simple, stout hairs ...... 8. L. hygrophila bb. Hairs dendritic or stellate on both leaf surfaces and on stems. c. Leaves glabrous or nearly so on the lamina beneath (veins mostly pubescent). d. Leaves coriaceous, drying dark; teeth of fruiting calyx slender, elongate ...... 13. L. tysoniana dd. Leaves membranaceous, not drying dark; teeth of fruiting calyx woody, stout, conical ...... 1. L. acidochondra cc. Leaves evenly pubescent on the undersides. e. Calyx teeth filiform, mostly puberulent, somewhat longer but not thicker in fruit ...... 6. L. hawkesiana ee. Calyx teeth slender to stout, glabrous to tomentose, in fruit stouter, woody, at least basally. f. Calyx teeth almost glabrous, becoming woody and stout, at least basally in fruit. g. Calyx teeth becoming stout, conical, less than 4 mm long in fruit ...... 1. L. acidochondra gg. Calyx teeth becoming elongate, stout basally but slender apically, more than 4 mm long ...... 5. L. guianensis ff. Calyx teeth tomentose, not woody or much stouter in fruit. h. Calyx teeth extending more than 3 mm beyond the sleeve, pubescence of calyx variously colored (sometimes gray), pedicles short or long. i. Calyx teeth stout (by virtue of pubescence) in flower and fruit, corolla ca. 4 mm across in bud, pedicles stout, less than 10 mm long ...... 7. L. howardiana ii. Calyx teeth slender (although pubescent) in flower, corolla ca. 7 mm across in bud; pedicles slender, more than 14 mm long ...... 11. L. porteriana hh. Calyx teeth short, not extending more than 2 mm beyond the sleeve, pubescence of calyx yellowish or brown; pedicles more than 14 mm long (fruit) ...... 9. L. luteynii aa. Plants with all simple hairs; pubescence often obscure to the naked eye. j. Calyces pubescent with prominent, slender teeth. k. Stems and leaves strigose with stramineous hairs 2-3 mm long ...... 2. L. amatitlanensis kk. Stems and leaves appressed pubescent with fine hairs -3. L. beckneriana jj. Calyces glabrous, mostly without slender teeth but deltoid teeth or lateral umbos sometimes present. 1. Anthers less than 5 mm long, free. m. Calyx 5-6 mm across with prominent, detoid-acuminate teeth near the truncate apex ...... lOb. L. maxonii var. grandidentata mm. Calyx mostly less than 4 mm across, teeth sometimes emerging at the sides of the calyx away from the truncate apex ...... 10a L. maxonii var. maxonii 11. Anthers more than 5 mm long, connate or tightly coherent. n. Calyx less than 2 mm long in flower, becoming 4 mm long in fruit, the venation obscure ...... 12. L. synanthera nn. Calyx 2-3 mm long in flower, 3-5 mm long in fruit, 10 ribs mostly evident in flower, when obscure then the flowering calyx more than 3 mm long ...... 4. L. escuintlensis
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Species
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Lycianthes guianense (Dun.) Bitt.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Abh. Naturwiss. Vereine Bremen 24(2): 341. 1919 [1920].
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Synonym
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Solanum guianense Dun. in DC. Prodr. 13(1): 166. 1852. TYPE: Not designated. Lycianthes pseudolycioides (Chod. & Hassl.) Bitt., Abh. Naturwiss. Vereine Bremen 24(2): 352-354. 1919 [1920]. Solanum pseudolycioides Chod. & Hassl., Bull. Herb. Boiss., ser. 2. 4: 84. 1904, non Rusby, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 26: 193. 1899. TYPE: Paraguay, Hassler 4912 (GH, K, MO). Solanum caucaense var. glabrescens Mort., Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 299(1): 58. 1944. TYPE: Colombia, Archer 2132 (US). Solanum australe Morton, Contr. U. S. Nadl. Herb. 29(1): 62. 1944. TYPE: Paraguay, Fiebrig 5692 (US).
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Description
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Vine or shrub to 2 m tall; twigs fine-puberulent to tomentose with stellate or dendritic hairs, soon glabrescent. Leaves elliptic, to 12 cm long, apically obtuse or acuminate, basally rounded, obtuse or narrowed, somewhat upfolded from the midrib, membranaceous, glabrate on both sides except for a few scattered hairs on the lamina and veins; veins ca. 4 on each side of the midvein; petioles mostly 1-2 cm long; minor leaves mostly wanting. Inflorescence solitary or a few-flowered fascicle; pedicels slender, sometimes drying reddish brown, to 12 mm long, glabrate, sometimes with one or 2 normal-appearing stellae present, thicker but not much longer in fruit. Flowers with the calyx cup 3-4 mm deep with 10 reflexed, slender teeth in 2 similar series, the longer ca. 7 mm long, the shorter ca. 4 mm long, glabrous except for an occasional normal-appearing hair on the surface and frequently 1 or 2 on the tips of the teeth; corolla white, 14 mm long, the interplicae thickened, glabrous except for a tuft of hairs at the tips of the lobes, only shallowly lobed; stamens unequal, the anther of one sur- passing the others by its full length, the other anthers ca. 4 mm long, glabrous; style exceeding all anthers, the stigma ellipsoidal, lateral. Fruits pyriform, drying ovoid, red, 15-20 mm across, juicy; fruiting calyx 10-14 mm across, glabrous, the teeth recurved, to 8 mm long, slender or sometimes stout near the base.
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Note
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Dunal in the original protologue to this species did not clearly designate a type, citing material without flowers labelled S. glandulosum in "herb. Banks" (BM) which he had seen in 1819, and also material, undesignated, in "herb. DC" (G-DC) and "herb. Mus. Paris" (P). In Paris is a specimen which appears to be a match for the specimen to be seen on the microfiche of the de Candolle Prodromus (IDC 2075 II 6) and which is labelled, "Museum de Paris 1825." This specimen (the one in Paris) is labelled, "Cayenne, Martin" and is an- notated by Bitter himself. Bitter, when he transferred Dunal's Solanum species to Lycianthes included in his citation a specimen "Cayenne, Martin, ex mus. hort. Paris 1819, hb. Berol," and he discussed comparing it with pieces of the "Dunal'schen Originals" sent him by C. de Candolle of Geneva (G). There is a strong likelihood that the three specimens at Paris, Geneva, and Berlin, the last
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Note
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now destroyed, were from the same collection, and they should be considered authentic material. The Paris specimen is a good match for the Panamanian plants treated here. Lycianthes guianense is distinguished by its glabrate leaves, glabrate calyx, and unequal anthers. The calyx teeth often dry yellow. Plants with globose fruits may be taxonomically distinct from those with pyriforme fruits.
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Distribution
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This species ranges from Paraguay through Peru, Colombia, and at least as far north as Panama. In Panama, most collections are from middle elevations in Cocle Province but it does range down to sea level.
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Specimen
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CANAL ZONE: Pipeline Road, Gentry 1449 (MO). COCLE: Near N rim of El Valle, 600- 1,000 m, Allen 1805 (US). El Valle floor, 600 m, Allen 3568 (F, GH, MO, NY, US). Hills NE of El Valle de Anton, 2,000 ft, disturbed forest edges, Lewis et al. 1709 (MO). Bismark above Penonome, Williams 570 (US). DARIEN: Rio Pirre below Rio Peresenico, D'Arcy 5534 (MO). Village of Mannene, Kirkbride & Bristan 1576 (MO). Above Paca near Cana, Williams 743 (NY). PANAMA': Cerro Campana, 2,300 ft, Blum & Miller 2298 (MO, SCZ). SAN BLAS: Forest above beach E of Puerto Obaldia, Croat 16921 (MO). VERAGUAS: Above Santa F6 on slopes of Cerro Tute below Agricultural School, 1000-2000 m, Gentry 6229 (MO).
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Project Name
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