Lycianthes manantlanensis Aaron Rodr. & O.Vargas, Novon 12: 245. 2002

Dean, Ellen, Poore, Jennifer, Anguiano-Constante, Marco Antonio, Nee, Michael H., Kang, Hannah, Starbuck, Thomas, Rodrigues, Annamarie & Conner, Matthew, 2020, The genus Lycianthes (Solanaceae, Capsiceae) in Mexico and Guatemala, PhytoKeys 168, pp. 1-333 : 1

27 Lycianthes manantlanensis Aaron Rodr. & O.Vargas, Novon 12: 245. 2002 Fig. 60

Type.

Mexico. Jalisco: Mpio. Guautitlán de García Barragán, Majada de las Avellanas, comunidad indígena de Cuzalapa, 3-4 km al NNW de El Durazno, 800-1000 m, 6 Nov 1995, R. Cuevas 5009 (holotype: IBUG (not seen); isotypes: ENCB (not seen), IBUG [IBUG0157395], MEXU (not seen), MO (not seen), WIS (not seen), ZEA).

Description.

Shrub to tree, 1.5-7 (10) m tall. Indument mostly lacking, rarely with a few tan to brown, uniseriate, multicellular, simple, eglandular, appressed-ascending trichomes 0.1-0.25 mm long. Stems green when young, usually glabrous, not compressed, but sometimes slightly angled, upon drying in a plant press, woody with age; upper sympodial branching points monochasial or dichasial. Leaves simple, the leaves of the upper sympodia usually paired and unequal in size, the larger ones with blades 3-15 × 0.75-6 cm, the smaller ones with blades 1-6 × 0.3-3 cm, the leaf pairs usually similar in shape, the blades ovate (sometimes narrowly), elliptic, or obovate, coriaceous, glabrous and shiny on both sides, the base cuneate to attenuate, sometimes oblique, the margin entire, usually undulate, the apex obtuse to acute or acuminate, the petiole 0.2-1.5 cm long, the larger leaf blades with 5-8 primary veins on each side of the midvein. Flowers solitary or in groups of 2-5, axillary, oriented horizontally to nodding; peduncles absent; pedicels slender, 14-27 mm long and erect to arching in flower, to 35 mm long, arching to deflexed in fruit, usually glabrous; calyx 2-3.5 mm long, 3-4.5 mm in diameter, campanulate, glabrous or with a few small scattered trichomes, the margin truncate to shallowly lobed, often irregularly notched or torn, with 0-5 knob-like appendages 0.5-1 mm long, emerging 0.25 mm below the calyx rim; fruiting calyx enlarged, widely bowl-shaped, often torn, 1-3 mm long, 3.5-5.5 mm in diameter, the appendages usually not visible; corolla 0.6-1.3 cm long, rotate to campanulate in orientation, stellate in outline, divided 1/2 to nearly all of the way to the base, the lobes with interpetalar tissue, white both abaxially and adaxially, often with yellow-green or purple markings near the stamen insertion on the adaxial side, glabrous except for tiny trichomes along the margins of the lobes; stamens equal to unequal, straight, when unequal the four shorter filaments 1-1.5 mm long, the fifth filament 1.5-2 mm long, glabrous, the anthers 2.5-3 mm long, lanceolate, free of one another, yellow, sometimes with a brown connective, glabrous, poricidal at the tips, the pores round, large, dehiscing distally, not opening into longitudinal slits; pistil with glabrous ovary, the style 6-7 mm long, linear, straight, glabrous, the stigma capitate. Fruit a berry, 5-12 mm long, 5-13 mm in diameter, globose to depressed globose, green when immature, purple at maturity, glabrous, lacking sclerotic granules. Seeds 10-50 per fruit, 2.5-3 × 2-2.5 mm, flattened, depressed ovate to circular in outline, sometimes folded, brown, the surface reticulum with minute serpentine pattern and shallow luminae.

Chromosome number.

Unknown.

Distribution and habitat.

Mexico (Chiapas, Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacán, Oaxaca), Guatemala (Quetzaltenango), and El Salvador, in primary or secondary forest, often in the transition between tropical dry forest and cloud forest, including tropical moist forest, Liquidambar , oak, or pine-oak forest, rarely in fir forest, in canyons or on slopes, 1200-2500 m in elevation (Fig. 61 ).

Common names and uses.

Mexico. Naranjillo ( Rodríguez and Vargas 2002). El Salvador. Chiltepe morado (Reyna 1492).

Phenology.

Flowering specimens have been collected June through December. Specimens with mature fruits have been collected December through June. The corollas on the specimens are often open; this indicates that the corollas must be open for a substantial amount of time each day.

Preliminary conservation status.

Lycianthes manantlanensis is a widespread species ranging from western Mexico to El Salvador, represented by 29 collections and occurring in three Mexican protected areas (Sierra Manantlán, La Sepultura, and El Triunfo). The EOO is 198,390.562 km2, and the AOO is 104 km2. Based on the IUCN (2019) criteria, the preliminary assessment category is Least Concern (LC).

Discussion.

Lycianthes manantlanensis is sometimes confused with L. orogenes and L. barbatula , and it is probable that the three are closely related, because they share similarities in floral structure, such as white, stellate corollas and yellow anthers that sometimes have a brownish connective. Lycianthes barbatula differs from the other two species in having tufts of trichomes in the vein axils on the abaxial leaf side. Lycianthes manantlanensis differs from L. orogenes in having a calyx that nearly lacks calyx appendages and often tears in fruit, as well as having equal to slightly unequal stamens. It should be noted that the original description of L. manantlanensis incorrectly stated that the mature fruits are green ( Rodríguez and Vargas 2002). The mature fruits are purple; the immature fruits are green. In addition, the original description states that the stamens are equal. However, the stamens are not always equal; they are often slightly unequal, with one stamen slightly longer than the other four. In the preparation of this treatment, we realized that this species is not endemic to Mexico but ranges to El Salvador. The specimens collected in El Salvador and Guatemala had been identified originally as L. orogenes , and many of the specimens were collections made by Standley or Steyermark, the original authors of that species. However, examination of the type material of L. manantlanensis and L. orogenes shows differences in the calyx structure that allows us to assign some of the Guatemalan and all of the El Salvadorian material to L. manantlanensis .

Representative specimens examined.

Guatemala. Quezaltenango: along road between Finca Pirineos and Patzulín, 1200-1400 m, 9 Feb 1941, P.C. Standley 87013 (US). Mexico. Chiapas: 5 km del camino Ejido Las Golondrinas a Rosario Sacatonal, 15.4436, -92.6856, 1400 m, 9 Mar 2006, R. Martínez-Camilo 936 (MO). Guerrero: 33.3 km SW of Filo de Caballo, on Chilpancingo-Atoyac road, [17.6405, -99.7304], 2000 m, 7 Nov 1999, T. Yahara 1925, (MEXU). Jalisco: Mpio. Cuautitlán de García Barragán, Majada de las Avellanas, comunidad indígena de Cuzalapa, 3-4 km al NNW de El Durazno, [19.4988, -104.3182], 800-1000 m, 6 Nov 1995, R. Cuevas 5009 (IBUG). Michoacán: Dto. Coalcoman, Naranjillo, [18.7624, -103.1397], 1400 m, 2 Aug 1941, Hinton 15942 (F, NY). Oaxaca: cañada al N de Cerro de la Leona (cerro al NE de Cerro Quetzal y ca. 7-9 km al N de Cerro Guayabitos), ca. 46 km en línea recta al N de San Pedro Tapantepec, 16.7833, -94.1833, 1300 m, 28 Feb 1987 S. Maya J. 4226 (MEXU).

Figures

Figure 60. Image of herbarium specimen of L. manantlanensis, Alvarado 575 (DAV). Image used with permission of the UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity.

Figure 61. Map of geographic distribution of L. manantlanensis based on herbarium specimen data.