Solanum polygamum Vahl var. thomae Kuntze

Madrid, Anales del Jardín Botánico de, 2009 & Knapp, Sandra, 2009, Synopsis and lectotypification of Solanum (Solanaceae) species endemic in the West Indies, Anales del Jardín Botánico de Madrid 66 (1), pp. 65-84 : 78

Solanum polygamum Vahl var. thomae Kuntze , Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 455. 1891

Type: U.S. Virgin Islands. Saint Thomas : sin. loc., O. Kuntze 36 (lectotype NY [ NY0074477 ] , designated here; isolectotype, K [K000196236]).

Distribution. Found in the central Caribbean on St. Thomas, St. Jan and St. John (US Virgin Islands), Tortola and Virgen Gorda (British Virgin Islands), Isla Vieques just to the southeast of Puerto Rico, in eastern Cuba and on southern Hispaniola from 0-350 m in limestone and sandy areas.

Representative specimen. British Virgin Islands, Virgin Gorda, Little & al. 23829 (BM).

Two syntypes were cited by Kuntze for Solanum polygamum var. thomae ; Eggers 100 and Kuntze 36. Sheets of both of these were located at K; but the duplicate of Kuntze 36 at NY ( Fig. 4d ) is annotated by Kuntze and comes from his personal herbarium and is thus selected as the lectotype. Solanum inclusum var. albiflorum was described by Eggers in his Flora of St. Croix and the Virgin Islands (1879) without citing a specimen or a specific locality, but is clearly a synonym of S. polygamum . The description is of a female plant ( S. polygamum is dioecious, see Knapp & al., 1998), and I prefer to continue to search for fruiting material annotated by Eggers S. polygamum before neotypifying this name.

Figures

Fig. 4. a, lectotype of Solanum orthacanthum O.E. Schulz, Fuertes 1890 (A00077559). Reproduced with permission of Harvard University,Cambridge,Massachusetts,USA;b, lectotype of S. pachyneurum O.E.Schulz var.glabrescens O.E.Schulz,Wright 382 p.p.(left hand stems of GH00112906) (= S. pachyneuroides). Reproduced with permission of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; c, lectotype of S. pachyneurum O.E. Schulz,Linden 1944 (K000196232). Reproduced with permission of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; d, lectotype of S. polygamum Vahl var. thomae O. Kuntze, Kuntze 36 (NY0074477) (= S. polygamum). Reproduced with permission of the New York Botanical Garden.