Lycianthes rantonnetii ( Carriere ) Bitter, Abh. Naturwiss. Vereins Bremen 24 [preprint]: 332. 1919.

Knapp, Sandra, 2022, A revision of Lycianthes (Solanaceae) in Australia, New Guinea, and the Pacific, PhytoKeys 209, pp. 1-134 : 1

14. Lycianthes rantonnetii ( Carriere) Bitter, Abh. Naturwiss. Vereins Bremen 24 [preprint]: 332. 1919.

Figs 43 , 44

Solanum rantonnetii Carrière, Rev. Hort. [Paris] 32: 135. 1859, as ' Solanum rantonnei '. Type. Cultivated in Paris (lectotype, designated by Dean et al. 2020, pg. 180: [illustration] Carrière, Rev. Hort. [Paris] 32: fig. 32. 1859).

Solanum corniculatum Hiern, Vidensk. Meddel. Naturhist. Foren. Kjøbenhavn 1877-1878: 45. 1877, nom. illeg., not S. corniculatum Huber, 1865. Type. Brazil. Rio de Janeiro: sin. loc., 1867, A. Glaziou 1078 (lectotype, designated by Dean et al. 2020, pg. 180: C [C10019192]; isolectotypes: BR [BR00000552267, BR00000552234], P [P00325613, P00325614, P00430738]).

Solanum urbanum Morong, Ann. New York Acad. Sci. 7: 177. 1893. Type. Paraguay. Central: streets of Asunción, Nov 1888, T. Morong 147 (lectotype, designated by Barboza 2013, pg. 29: NY [00172225]; isolectotypes: MO [MO-503602, acc. 2495263], NDG [NDG45160], PH [00030498], US [0027939, acc. # 1324871], WIS [v0004256WIS]).

Solanum muticum N.E.Br., Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 85: 6. 1894. Type. Uruguay. Montevideo: cultivated in Montevideo, originally from Paraguay, Mar 1858, E.J. Gibert 56 (lectotype, designated by Barboza 2013, pg. 29: K [K000585755]).

Solanum urbanum Morong var. foliosum Chodat, Bull. Soc. Bot. Genève, ser. 2, 8: 152. 1916. Type. Paraguay. Paraguarí: Paraguary, Cerros de Paraguarí, Sep 1914, R. Chodat & W. Vischer 60 (lectotype, designated here: G [G00392293]).

Solanum urbanum Morong var. nervosum Chodat, Bull. Soc. Bot. Genève, ser. 2, 8: 152. 1916. Type. Paraguay. Paraguay. Cordillera: "in valle fluminis Y-acá, pr[ope] Valenzuela", Jan 1900, É. Hassler 7024 (lectotype, designated by Dean et al. 2020, pg. 180: G [G00390048]; isolectotypes: BM [BM000087583], G [G00392285, G00392288, G00392290], P [P03852955], W [acc. # 1904-804]).

Solanum urbanum Morong var. subtomentosum Chodat, Bull. Soc. Bot. Genève, ser. 2, 8: 152. 1916. Type. Paraguay. Misiones: San Ignacio, Oct 1914, R. Chodat & W. Vischer 61 (lectotype, designated here: G [G00392295]).

Type.

Based on Solanum rantonnetii Carrière.

Description.

Shrubs 0.5-3 m tall, with multiple stems from the base, these arching and sometimes scandent and sprawling; stems 3-4-angled, the angles yellowish green in live plants and paler than the rest of the stem, sparsely to moderately pubescent with spreading transparent simple uniseriate 1-4-celled trichomes to 0.5 mm long, these occasionally forked or dendritic, glabrescent with age; new growth moderately pubescent with transparent simple uniseriate or occasionally dendritic trichomes like those of the stems; bark of older stems pale greyish brown, prominently angled. Sympodial units unifoliate or more usually difoliate, the leaves usually geminate, if paired the leaves similar in shape and size. Leaves simple; blades of major leaves (1)4-15.5 cm long, (0.5)3.5-7.5 cm wide, ovate, rhombic-elliptic, elliptic or occasionally almost lanceolate, usually broadest at the middle, rarely in the upper half, membranous, concolorous; adaxial surfaces sparsely and evenly pubescent with 1-3-celled simple uniseriate trichomes, these denser along the midrib; abaxial surfaces sparsely to moderately and evenly pubescent with 1-3-celled simple uniseriate trichomes, these denser along the midrib; principal veins 3-7 pairs, more pubescent than the lamina. drying yellowish green abaxially; base attenuate onto the petiole; margins entire or somewhat undulate; apex acute to acuminate; petiole 0.5-2.4(4) cm long, winged from the attenuate leaf base, pubescent with simple uniseriate (or occasionally dendritic) trichomes like those of the stems and leaves; blades of minor leaves similar in size and shape to those of the major leaves, or slightly smaller; petioles 0.5-3 cm long, winged. Inflorescences axillary fascicles with (1)2-7 flowers, pubescent with transparent trichomes like those of the new growth and stems; pedicels 1.2-1.7 cm long, ca. 1 mm in diameter at the base, ca. 2 mm in diameter at the apex, spreading at anthesis, sparsely to moderately and evenly pubescent with transparent simple (occasionally dendritic) uniseriate 1-3-celled trichomes like those of the stems, articulated at the base; pedicels scars tightly packed in the leaf axils. Buds ellipsoid to fusiform with pointed tips, the corolla more than halfway exserted from the calyx tube before anthesis. Flowers 5-merous, all apparently perfect. Calyx with the tube 1.5-4 mm long, 2.5-4.5 mm wide, openly cup-shaped, with (5)10 linear subulate appendages of variable length 0.25-5.2 mm long, arising ca. 0.25-1 mm from the hyaline rim, usually alternating long and short, sparsely to moderately pubescent with simple trichomes like those of the pedicels. Corolla 1.2-2 cm in diameter, violet with the midveins dark purple and the centre yellow, rotate, lobed less than 1/10 of the way to the base, interpetalar tissue abundantly present, the lobes ca. 1 mm long, ca. 1 mm wide and mere acumens from the rotate corolla, glabrous on both surfaces except for the densely papillate, cucullate tips (acumens). Stamens unequal; filament tube minute; free portion of the filaments of two lengths, three long filaments 2-3 mm long, 2 short filaments 0.8-1.5 mm long, glabrous or adaxially pubescent with tangled weak-walled uniseriate simple trichomes; anthers ellipsoid and slightly curved, orange-yellow, poricidal at the tips, the pores round, distally directed, not elongating to slits with age. Ovary conical, glabrous; style 3.5-5.5 mm long, slightly curved in the same direction as the anthers, glabrous; stigma slightly clavate and bilobed, the surface minutely papillate. Fruit a compressed-ellipsoid or compressed globose berry, 2-3 cm long, 1.3-1.5 cm in diameter (usually absent or smaller and seedless in cultivated plants), yellow or yellowish orange when mature, the pericarp glabrous, thin, shiny and translucent; fruiting pedicels 2.5-4 cm long, ca. 1.5 mm in diameter at the base, ca. 3 mm in diameter at the apex, somewhat woody, spreading or hanging from the weight of the berries; fruiting calyx a plate with the appendages somewhat longer than in flower, spreading and often broken off, stiff and woody. Seeds 20-100 per berry (many fewer in cultivated plants), 2-3.5 mm long, 1.5-3.5 mm wide, rounded and compressed, reddish tan, the surfaces minutely pitted, the testal cells with sinuate margins. Stone cells more than 20 per berry, ca. 0.5-1.5 mm in diameter. Chromosome number: 2n=24 (Gerasimenko and Reznikova 1968 [cited in D’Arcy 1974] as Solanum rantonnetii ; Acosta et al. 2005, as L. rantonnei , voucher Moscone 4260 [CORD]).

Distribution.

Lycianthes rantonnetii is widely cultivated in the tropics and subtropics (and even into the temperate zone as a short-lived perennial) worldwide. I have seen no collections from New Guinea, but it has been relatively widely collected in Australia. It is native to southern South America (Argentina, Bolivia, southern Brazil and Paraguay).

Ecology and habitat.

In its native range L. rantonnetii is a plant of semi-moist, seasonal forests and open areas; from (sea level) 100 to 2,000 m elevation.

Common names.

In its native range in Argentina L. rantonnetii is called meloncillo del aire ( Barboza 2013).

Preliminary conservation assessment

( IUCN 2020). Not applicable to this species for this region.

Discussion.

Lycianthes rantonnetii is native to South America ( Barboza 2013) but widely cultivated in subtropical and temperate areas worldwide. It is the only species occurring in the region treated here that has stone cells in the berries, but in cultivation it rarely sets fruit. It can easily be distinguished from all native species by its rotate corollas with copious interpetalar tissue, orange-yellow anthers that are slightly curved and angled, and somewhat striped stems. In the area treated here I have only seen specimens of L. rantonnetii from Australia, but I would expect it to be in cultivation anywhere in the region.

This species epithet is often seen spelled “rantonnei” but is correctable to “rantonnetii” following Art. 60.9 of the ICN ( Turland et al. 2018: Ex. 31), which stipulates that epithets honouring persons where there is an intentional latinisation of the name that involves the omission of a terminal vowel or consonant are not permitted; the epithet in this case honours the French horticulturalist Barthélémy Victor Rantonnet so is correctable to “rantonnetii” even though Carrière (1859) originally spelled in “rantonnei” (using the latinisation Rantonneus).

Dean et al. (2020) cited the type specimens of Solanum urbanum var. foliosum and var. Solanum urbanum subtomentosum as “holotype”, but Chodat (1916) did not cite a specific herbarium in any part of the protologue thus these names require lectotypification (see McNeill 2014), even though only a single specimen is preserved in the herbarium at G. I have selected the specimens cited as holotypes by Dean et al. (2020) as the lectotypes in both these cases.

Specimens examined.

Australia. New South Wales: North Coast, 37.5 km from the Bruxner Highway along Long Gully Road , next to Rocky River ., 3 Feb 2014, Johnstone 3435 (NSW) . Queensland: Wide Bay, cultivated at Nora Creina, Homestead , 1.5km north-northeast of Didcot. , 24 Jan 1999, Forster 24067 (BRI); Moreton, Brisbane Mt. Coot-Tha Botanic Gardens , 1 Mar 1984, Whitten s.n. (BRI) . South Australia: in creek near Fremont Park, Elizabeth, 10 Feb 1988, Bates 13861 (AD); Rocky River S of Laura, 12 Jan 1993, Bates 30884 (AD); in creek NW below entrance to Angove C [onservation] P[ark], (dedicated 2 weeks ago), 15 Jul 1994, Bates 37051 (AD); Naracoorte, Jul 1940, Cooper s.n. (AD); Region 13, Southeastern Drain L., Oct 1989, Lawson 51 (AD, CANB, MEL, MO); On the roadside at Winding Way, Belair, by vacant block, 18 Feb 1976, Sparrow s.n. (AD); Tusmore, Kenneway St. (rear of No. 20 Lynington St. ), 14 Dec 1974, Symon s.n. (CANB) . Western Australia: Forrestfield, 1948, Dawson Harrison Ltd s.n. (PERTH); Mingenew tip, 30 Apr 1997, Elson s.n. (PERTH) .

Figures

Figure 43. Lycianthes rantonnetii (Carriere) Bitter A flowering stem B five-toothed calyx with appendages near the margins C calyx venation D simple uniseriate trichome E forked trichome F glandular papillate trichome G rotate corolla with abundant interpetalar tissue H androecium showing unequal anther lengths I abaxial anther surface J adaxial anther surface K gynoecium with minutely capitate stigma L berry M berry cross section showing stone cells embedded in the pericarp N seed with minutely pitted surface O cross section of seed. Reproduced from Barboza (2013). Courtesy of Flora Argentina, reproduced with permission.

Figure 44. Lycianthes rantonnetii herbarium specimen. Paraguay. Cordillera: Hassler 7024 (isolectotype of S. urbanum var. nervosum Chodat, BM 000087583) and Hassler 6728 (BM 000995242). Courtesy of the Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London, reproduced with permission.