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Magnoliopsida
Solanum rovirosanum Donn. Sm.
EOL Text
Solanum rovirosanum is a member of the Solanum sessile species group (Knapp, 2002) of the Geminata clade (Bohs, 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.
- Forey, P.L.. Fossils and cladistic analysis. Pp. 124-136 in P. L. Forey, C. J. Humphries, I. L. Kitching, R. W. Scotland, D. J. Seibert & D. M. Williams (eds.) Cladistics: a practical course in systematics. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
- Kitching, I.J., P.L. Forey, C.J. Humphries & D.M. Williams. Cladistics: the theory and practice of parsimony analysis. Second edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
- Knapp, S.. Reproductive biology of Solanum section Geminata in a Costa Rican cloud forest. Pp. 253-263 in Solanaceae: biology and systematics, ed. W. G. D’Arcy. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Knapp, S.. A cladistic analysis of the Solanum sessile species group (section Geminata pro parte: Solanaceae). J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 106: 73-89.
- Knapp, S.. Solanum section Geminata (G. Don) Walpers (Solanaceae). Flora Neotropica 84: 1-405.
- Olmstead, R.G.. Species concepts and plesiomorphic species. Syst. Bot. 20: 623-630.
From southern Mexico to western Panama and northwestern Colombia, sea level to 1500 m, in both primary and secondary forests.
In the cladogram of the sessile species group, Solanum rovirosanum is part of a trichotomy in the oppositifolium subclade (Knapp, 1991b). Solanum rovirosanum itself has no automorphies suggesting it is close to the stem. Species such as this have been hypothesized as ancestral species in some groups (see Kitching et al., 1998), but are more commonly refered to as stem species (Forey, 1992) or have recently been termed plesiospecies (Olmstead, 1995).Fruit pubescence varies geographically in Solanum rovirosanum, with populations from Mexico and Guatemala having pubescent ovaries and berries, and populations from Costa Rica and Panama having glabrous ovaries and berries. The significance of this character is not yet understood. The same type of polymorphism occurs in S. sessile of the Amazon basin. Material with glabrous berries has been called S. brenesii. The two races are otherwise not different from one another. The more easterly populations (i.e. Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia) of S. rovirosanum may be specifically distinct, but further field study is necessary, particularly in the northern part of the species range.In Costa Rica, Solanum rovirosanum grows in both primary and secondary forest, and the two forms are quite different morphologically and are often identified as different species. The primary forest plants, growing under closed canopy, have large, obovate leaves, and often have simple inflorescences. Those plants from pasture edges have smaller, often elliptic, rather coriaceous leaves, and larger, usually branched inflorescences. These differences are striking at first glance, but upon closer examination, the two forms are obviously the same species. Forest and secondary growth plants are visited by different bees, and bloom at different times in the site where I studied them (Monteverde, see Knapp 1986a). Secondary growth plants are visited primarily by Melipona spp., and forest plants by bumble bees (see Table IX in Knapp, 2002). The peaks of flowering time differ for the two forms, but the populations studied were at the extremes of an elevation and aridity gradient, so this is perhaps not surprising. Plants between the two study populations are perhaps in bloom in the intervening interval, thus maintaining gene flow in this species; however the situation may merit closer investigation.
Árboles o arbustos.
Árboles o arbustos, hasta 7 m. de alto, inermes; tallos relativamente fuertes.
Hojas en pares desiguales, las menores similares a las mayores pero mucho más pequeñas, redondeadas, obovadas o elípticas, las hojas mayores de 15 a 40 cm. de largo, ápice y base agudos o acuminados, ligeramente decurrentes sobre el peciolo, enteras glabras, pero a veces diminutos tricomas erectos sobre los nervios; peciolos de 1 a 4 cm. de largo.
Inflorescencias: racimos cortos con varias flores, opuestos a las hojas, de menudamente puberulentos a glabros, pedúnculos de 0,6 a 2,5 cm., frecuentemente ramificados, pedicelos de 6 a 10 mm. de largo; cáliz de 2 a 3 mm. de largo, menudamente puberulento, lobulado hasta la mitad de su longitud, lóbulos obtusos; corola de 12 a 15 mm. de diámetro, blanca, profundamente lobulada, lóbulos oblongos, puberulentos, porrectos; anteras de 3 a 4 mm. de largo.Fruto tipo baya globosa, de 1 a 1,5 cm. de diámetro, glabra amarilla, pedicelos fructíferos a veces sólo ligeramente más largos, fuertes, leñosos, erectos o deflexos por el peso.
Habit
Shrubs or small trees, 2-10 m tall; young stems and leaves sparsely to densely puberulent with erect uniseriate trichomes ca. 0.1 mm long, these golden in dry specimens; older stems glabrate, the bark dark reddish-brown; bark of the trunks greyish-brown.
Sympodial Structure
Sympodial units difoliate, geminate.
Leaves
Leaves obovate to elliptic, widest distal to the middle, often in the distal third of the leaf blade, glabrous above, usually glabrous beneath, occasionally puberulent along the veins, the trichomes erect, uniseriate 0.1-0.5 mm long; major leaves 9-35 x 3.5-17 cm, with 7-10 pairs of main lateral veins, these slightly raised above, prominent and pale yellow in dry specimens beneath, the apex acute, the base acute to attenuate, often winged onto the petiole; petioles winged from the decurrent leaf bases, 1.5-3 cm long; minor leaves differing from the major ones in size and sometimes in shape, occasionally more rounded than the major leaves, 5-17 x 2.5-11 cm, the apex acute, the base acute to attenuate; petioles 0.8-1 cm long.
Inflorescences
Inflorescences opposite the leaves, simple or many times furcate, 1.5-8 cm long, 5-25-flowered, glabrous to densely puberulent with erect uniseriate trichomes like those of the young stems and leaves; pedicel scars evenly and closely spaced, not overlapping. Buds when young globose, the corolla soon exserted, the buds later ellipsoid, the exserted portion of the corolla equal to the length of the calyx tube. Pedicels at anthesis white in live plants, deflexed, 0.7-1 cm long, tapering from the constriction at the base of the calyx tube to a slender base ca. 0.5 mm in diam.
Flowers
Flowers with the calyx tube narowly campanulate, 1-2 mm long, the lobes deltoid, 0.5-1 mm long, glabrous or puberulent with the same uniseriate trichomes as those of the rest of the inflorescence; corolla white, 1.2-1.5 cm in diam., lobed ca. 3/4 of the way to the base, the lobes planar at anthesis, the tips and margins of the lobes puberulent and minutely papillose; anthers 3-4 x 1-1.5 mm, poricidal at the tips, the pores tear-drop shaped; free portion of the filaments 0-0.25 mm long, the filament tube 0.5-1 mm long; ovary glabrous or densely pubescent with golden uniseriate trichomes; style straight, in long-styled flowers 7-8 mm long, 1-1.5 mm long in short-styled flowers; stigma capitate, minutely papillose.
Fruits
Fruit a globose berry, glabrous or sparsely puberulent, pale lemon-yellow when ripe, otherwise green, 1-1.5 cm in diam.; fruiting pedicels thick and woody, erect, occasionally deflexed from their own weight, 0.8-1.3 cm long, the length quite variable even within an individual, 1.5-2 mm in diam. at the base, ca. 5 mm in diam. at the tip.
Seeds
Seeds pale tan, ovoid-reniform, 2.5-3 x 2-2.5 mm, the surfaces minutely pitted.
Isosyntype for Solanum rovirosanum Donn. Sm.
Catalog Number: US 1324748
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Original publication and alleged type specimen examined; Original publication and alleged type specimen examined
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): H. von Türckheim
Year Collected: 1907
Locality: Cubilquitz, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, Central America
- Isosyntype: Donnell Smith, J. 1909. Bot. Gaz. 48: 397.; Knapp, S. 1991. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 105: 196.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | This image was obtained from the Smithsonian Institution. Unless otherwise noted, this image or its contents may be protected by international copyright laws. |
Source | http://collections.mnh.si.edu/search/botany/?irn=2168524 |
Syntype for Solanum rovirosanum Donn. Sm.
Catalog Number: US 1324749
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Original publication and alleged type specimen examined; Original publication and alleged type specimen examined
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): H. von Türckheim
Year Collected: 1907
Locality: Cubilquitz, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, Central America
Elevation (m): 350 to 350
- Syntype: Donnell Smith, J. 1909. Bot. Gaz. 48: 397.; Knapp, S. 1991. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 105: 196.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | This image was obtained from the Smithsonian Institution. Unless otherwise noted, this image or its contents may be protected by international copyright laws. |
Source | http://collections.mnh.si.edu/search/botany/?irn=2168523 |
Syntype; Lectotype for Solanum rovirosanum Donn. Sm.
Catalog Number: US 1324746
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Card file verified by examination of alleged type specimen
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): H. von Türckheim
Year Collected: 1904
Locality: Cubilquitz., Guatemala, Central America
- Syntype: Donnell Smith, J. 1909. Bot. Gaz. 48: 397.; Lectotype: Donnell Smith, J. 1909. Bot. Gaz. 48: 397.; Knapp, S. 1991. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 105: 196.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | This image was obtained from the Smithsonian Institution. Unless otherwise noted, this image or its contents may be protected by international copyright laws. |
Source | http://collections.mnh.si.edu/search/botany/?irn=2075537 |