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Magnoliopsida
Solanum capsicoides All.
EOL Text
A lowland species of humid or seasonally humid warm subtropical or tropical areas nearly or quite free from frost. Throughout its now extensive range (Nee, 1979) an often abundant weed in unshaded disturbed artificial weedy habitats such as roadsides, waste places, pastures, old coffee plantations, stream banks, beaches, cultivated land (presumably the edges), open woods and around dwellings. Probably preferring sandy habitats but also recording from wet alluvial clay and limestone derived soils. Native along the Atlantic coast of Brazil; introduced in the Guianas, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras, common on the Caribbean islands, common in Florida, sporadic in nearby states; sporadically introduced in Hawaii, Africa, India and Sri Lanka, more commonly in southern China, Java, Sumatra, and Australia. It can be expected in to eventually occur as a cultivated plant or as naturalized in any tropical or subtropical area of the world. At elevations up to 1500 m, the great majority of collections from below 1000 m with no geographic trends apparent.
Allioni's name for the species was validly published and the description alone is ample enough for definitive determination, even without the photograph of the type at TO kindly furnished to me by Dr. B. L. Burtt of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. The quite fitting epithet "capsicoides" is found on several old herbarium specimens in European herbaria, including on the type of S. ciliatum Lam., but it was never investigated nor taken up by later botanists. The name was also omitted from Index Kewensis and has rested in limbo until recently.The specimens here admitted as types of S. pentapetaloides have diverse and confusing label data but are undoubtedly all authentic. The species would perhaps be better lectotypified from one of the several sheets of S. capsicoides from the Hornemann herbarium at C, more specifically the one labelled "Solanum pentapetaloides Roxb. Legi in Rio Janeiro 1811" and "ex Ind. Orient. ded. Wallich". I have not been able to trace the details of the history of the type sheets, but evidently Wallich collected the species in Rio de Janeiro and introduced it into cultivation at Calcutta. A sheet at K (=Nee photo 634) has the following label: "Solan. pentapetaloides Roxb. Cat. Hort. Calc. What species is this? I cannot make it square with any of the [illegible] species. Intr. by Dr. Wallich from Rio de Janeiro into the B. G. Calc. in 1807."Solanum capsicoides has some peculiarities which would seem to adapt it to the naturally disturbed habitats of the sandy restingas. It is a a lower growing, more spreading species than its erect and single-stemmed relatives of mesic and wooded habitats such as S. acerifolium or S. atropurpureum.Winged seeds are probably an adaptation to local wind or water dispersal after passing of the seeds by birds in these relatives with small juicy berries. The seeds have become much broader in S. capsicoides and it is significant that they not only are blown around more easily than those of S. atropurpureum but that they also float for a few days. There seems no longer to be any provision for animal dispersal of the fruits of S. capsicoides since they regularly are found on herbarium specimens in the mature state; they are nearly dry at maturity and split irregularly to permit the seeds to escape in a not very effective shaker mechanism. The development (or retention?) of the striking bright orange-red color of the fruits in this context is difficult to explain.Despite the considerable confusion in nomenclature involving this species, it is one of the most easily recognized and least variable in sect. Acanthophora. The large bright orange-red fruit and large straw colored seeds maintain their bright colors in all but the most poorly preserved herbarium specimens. The leaves are distinctive, appearing glabrous but for the sparse silky hairs; it is the only species in the section, and to my knowledge in subgen. Leptostemonum, without stellae on any part of the plant. The calyx with stout spines from enlarged, almost bulbous bases is distinctive in the section. It could be confused with extremes of S. atropurpureum which have shallowly lobed leaves, but this latter species has much smaller yellow fruits and yellowish rather than white corollas as well as stellae (even if only a few and confined to the base of the sinuses) on the underside of the leaf. Solanum aculeatissimum with which it has often been unnecessarily confused, is easily distinguished by the non-winged seeds, more copious glandular pubescence, and the presence of stellae on the underside of the leaf.
Solanum capsicoides shares the much-flattened seeds forming a wing around the embryo with several other species in an unnamed subsection (Nee, 1991, 1999). A key to distinguish the species is given by Nee (1991). It belongs to the Leptostemonum clade of Solanum (Bohs, 2005). Within Leptostemonum, it belongs to the Acanthophora clade, a monophyletic group that includes most of the species traditionally recognized in Solanum section Acanthophora Dunal (the S. mammosum species group of Whalen, 1984; Levin et al., 2006). Within the Acanthophora clade, S. capsicoides is sister to a clade that consists of S. acerifolium, S. atropurpureum, and S. tenuispinum, and the four species together form a well-supported monophyletic group (Levin et al., 2005).
- Bohs, L.. 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.
- D’Arcy, W.G.. Solanum and its close relatives in Florida. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 61: 819-867.
- Levin, R.A., K. Watson & L. Bohs. A four-gene study of evolutionary relationships
- Levin, R.A., N.R. Myers, & L. Bohs. Phylogenetic relationships among the "spiny" solanums (Solanum subgenus Leptostemonum). Amer. J. Bot. 93: 157-169.
- Nee, M.. Patterns in biogeography in Solanum, section Acanthophora. Pp. 569–580 in J. G. Hawkes, R. N. Lester & A. D. Skelding (eds.), The Biology and Taxonomy of the Solanaceae. Academic Press, London.
- Nee, M.. Synopsis of Solanum section Acanthophora: a group of interest for glycoalkaloids. Pp. 257–266 In: J.G. Hawkes, R.N. Lester, M. Nee, and N. Estrada-R. (eds.). Solanaceae III: Taxonomy, Chemistry, Evolution. Richmond, Surrey, UK: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Linnean Society of London.
- Nee, M.. Synopsis of Solanum in the New World. Pp. 285–333 in M. Nee, D. E. Symon, R. N. Lester & J. P. Jessop (eds.), Solanaceae IV: Advances in Biology and Utilization. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
- Sendtner, O.. Solanaceae. Pp. 1-228 in C. P. F. von Martius, Flora Brasiliensis. 10: 5-338. C. Wolf, Munich, Germany.
- Whalen, M.D.. Conspectus of species groups in Solanum subgenus Leptostemonum. Gentes Herbarum 12 (4): 179-282.
Habit
Shrubs 0.3–1 (–2) m tall, much branched, sprawling, occasionally appearing scandent. Stems often conspicuously flexuous in the upper parts, with abundant minute white lenticels making a very fine speckled pattern visible to the naked eye, with minute stipitate glands, otherwise nearly glabrous to moderately pilose with slender spreading ca. 8-celled simple hyaline 3–5 mm hairs; prickles sparse to dense, straight and slightly reflexed, 0.1–1.5 cm, up to 2 mm thick at the base, gradually tapering distally, yellowish, glabrous except for a few minute stipitate glands.
Sympodial Structure
Sympodial units 2-foliate, geminate.
Leaves
Leaves simple, the blades of larger leaves 7–12 x 6–11 cm, geminate, with one about twice the size of the other, broadly ovate to suborbicular, thin-textured, pubescent adaxially with minute stipitate glands, sparsely and evenly pilose with uniform 4–5-celled simple hyaline hairs 1.5–2.8 mm long, these visible to the naked eye as shiny white hairs in well presevered specimens; sparsely pilose abaxially with scattered 5–7-celled simple hyaline 2.2–3.6 mm hairs and with conspicuous white dots; stellate hairs lacking, armed adaxially and abaxially with straight acicular prickles, the large prickles similar to those of the petiole, grading down to minute ones on smaller veins; base cordate; margin ciliate, sometimes merely coarsely dentate, usually with 2–3 pairs of acute lobes, sometimes lobed 2/3 way to midrib and then often the lobes again with coarse acute teeth, the least-lobed leaves plane, the more lobed ones increasingly undulate; apex acute; petioles of larger leaves 2–10 (–13) cm, the pubescence similar to that of the stem, with 8–15 straight acicular prickles up to 1.5 cm long, 2.4 mm wide at the base, these mostly larger than the stem prickles.
Inflorescences
Inflorescences ± sessile, extra-axillary, unbranched, with 1-7 flowers, only the lower 1 or 2 flowers fertile, the axes with pubescence similar to that of the stem; moderately armed with straight prickles 1–4.5 mm long from somewhat enlarged bases; peduncle less than 5 mm; rachis absent; pedicels ca. 10 mm in flower, 15–20 mm and curved in fruit, little enlarged at the apex, spaced 0–1 mm apart, the male flowers perhaps articulated at the base.
Flowers
Flowers with the calyx ca. 4–5 mm long, lobed 1/3 way to base, the tube 2 mm, the lobes 3 mm long, 2 mm wide at the base, triangular, pubescent with minute stipitate glands and pilose with 4–6-celled simple hyaline hairs 2–3 mm long, with green tips and somewhat scarious lateral margins; fruiting calyx 6 x 5 mm at the base, somewhat accrescent and becoming thickened, heavily armed with prickles 1–7 mm long with conspicuously enlarged bases. Corollas 1.5–2 cm in diameter, 10 mm long, stellate, thin-textured, white, glossy light greenish at base, the tube 1.6-4 mm, the lobes 8–10.5 x 3–3.6 mm, lance-triangular, recurved, sometimes the tips making a complete coil, glabrous or with a few simple hyaline hairs 2–3 mm long. Stamens with filaments 1.8 mm long, inserted about 1/3 way up the corolla tube; anthers 5–6.5 x 2 mm, lanceolate, free, dark yellow on the outside at the base, fading to lighter yellow at tips and on inside, the pores small and directed distally. Ovary in fertile flower ca. 1.8 mm in diameter, white, minutely stipitate-glandular; style 8 x 0.5 mm, exceeding the stamens by 1.5 mm, cylindrical, glabrous except for a few minute stipitate glands at the base; stigma 0.6 x 0.6 mm, capitate, slightly bilobed, bright green, minutely papillose.
Fruits
Fruits 2–3.5 cm in diameter; globose; exocarp tough, bright matte orange; endocarp white, spongy, with scant tasteless watery sap, 2.5–4 mm thick, drying to an inconspicuous film, imprinted on its inner surface by the edges of the seeds; placenta of two curved horns, free except where united at top and bottom of the single locule.
Seeds
Seeds 175–415 per fruit (average = 300, n = 15), 4–6 mm in diameter, highly flattened, irregularly circular, straw-colored,obscurely foveolate, radiating from the placenta, the wing 0.8–1.5 mm wide.
Wastelands, near roadsides, open forests, thickets; 200-1500 m.
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Flowering throughout the year, including Florida where it has been found in flower in all months but January.
chloroplast ndhF sequence: GenBank AF500808 (voucher: Bohs 2451, UT). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/viewer.fcgi?db=nucleotide&val=27463399 chloroplast trnT-F sequence: GenBank AY266251 (voucher: Bohs 2451, UT). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/viewer.fcgi?db=nucleotide&val=33355752 chloroplast trnS-G sequence: GenBank AY555460 (voucher: Bohs 2451, UT). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/viewer.fcgi?db=nucleotide&val=49065900 nuclear ITS sequence: GenBank AY561265 (voucher: Bohs 2451, UT). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/viewer.fcgi?db=nucleotide&val=49458083 nuclear waxy (GBSSI) sequence: GenBank AY562954 (voucher: Bohs 2451, UT). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/viewer.fcgi?db=nucleotide&val=45826390
United States
Rounded National Status Rank: NNR - Unranked
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Rounded Global Status Rank: G4 - Apparently Secure
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