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Project Name Data (Last Modified On 5/15/2013)
 

Flora Data (Last Modified On 5/15/2013)
Genus Cyphomandra Mart. ex Sendt.
PlaceOfPublication Flora 28: 161-176, tab. 1-9. 1845.
Note TYPE: Solanum sycocarpum Mart. & Sendt.
Synonym Cyathostyles Schott ex Meissn., Gen. P1. Comm. 184. 1840, nomen nudum. Pionandra Miers, London Jour. Bot. 4: 353. 1845. TYPE: Not designated. Pallavicinia De Not., Flora 30: 567. 1847. TYPE: Cyphomandra fragrans Sendt.
Description Unarmed shrubs, trees or vines, sometimes foetid, pubescent with simple or dendritic hairs. Leaves simple or compound, entire or lobed, often corddte at the base, sometimes dimorphic; petioles sometimes clasping the stem; minor leaves present or not. Inflorescences often at a dichotomy of the stem, simple or branched racemes, often secund and conspicuously circinnate; peduncles some- times clasping; pedicels articulating at the base, usually leaving a prominent cicatrix of pedicel scars. Flowers mostly 5-merous, calyces campanulate with obtuse or obsolete lobes; corollas deeply or shallowly lobed, often with mem- branaceous plicae of different texture or color; filaments free or connate, mostly short, extending into an elaborate connective which may shield the dorsal surface of the thecae or part of it, the anthers opening by 2 small, sometimes confluent terminal pores and sometimes ultimately longitudinally; ovary glabrous or not, often conical or elongate, 2-loculed, the ovules many, anatropous on enlarged axile placentae, the style slender, the stigma small. Fruit a fleshy or juicy berry; seeds flattened, the embryo circinnate at the periphery of the seed.
Habit shrubs, trees or vines
Note This genus resembles sect. Leiodendra of Solanum, from which it is dis- tinguished mainly by the elaboration of the anther connective. The position of the inflorescence differs in the two groups,, and the often cordate le'af base' and the large fleshy, pendant fruits of Cyphomandra are often distinctive. The generic distinction between Solanum and Cyphomandra is not sharp and requires clarification. In some species, the connective is only slightly elaborated, and it may be difficult without histological techniques to determine whether or not it is in fact elaborated. A consideration of a wide range of Cyphomcandra morphology will be necessary to establish the generic distinctions. Among the Panamanian species, Solanum eshbaughianum, and S. granelianum warrant clear examination as to generic placement.
Distribution Cyphomandra includes 50-60 species, mainly of ultramontane South America.
Note Some species are used by man for food. Cyphomandra crassicaulis (Ort.) Kuntze (= C. betacea) is a food crop in Australia and New Zealand and in some parts of South America under the name "tree tomato." Cyphomandra crassicaulis has been reported from Panama. No specimens have been seen to support these reports, but it is possible that this species has been cultivated from time to time. It resembles C. hartwegii, but the leaves are thicker and the indumentum is dense; the fruit is much larger. R. B. Dressler, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, has indicated in con- versation that C. hartwegii is pollinated by male euglossine bees (Eulaema bombiformis). He remarked that in Brazil, where Cyphomandra has its greatest species diversity, the euglossines do not occur. Even in the many species of Cyphomandra with well-elaborated anther connectives the gross structure of the flowers is quite diverse, and that of C. hartwegii with its elongate, pendulous flowers and treelike form is an extreme attained in the northern members of the genus. In Brazil and the Andes, the flowers are often quite different from this in overall appearance and different pollinators might be expected. The three species found in Panama are very different-looking, and it would be useful to document their pollinators. The role, if any, of the expanded connective in encouraging pollination is unknown. It may be a remnant of the leaf-blade from which the stamen was modified. Cyphomandra takes its name from the Greek "kyphos" = curve, and "andra" = masculine, referring to the anthers.
Key a. Leaves pinnately compound, peduncles elongate -2. C. diversifolia aa. Leaves simple, peduncles various. b. Inflorescence an elongate, circinnate, many-flowered cincinnus, the peduncle to 15 cm long; fruit ca. 3 cm long ...... 3. C. hartwegii bb. Inflorescence a short, 1-6-flowered raceme, the peduncle 1-2 cm long; fruit ca. 2 cm long ...... 1. C. allophyllum
 
 
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