Capsicum lanceolatum (Greenm.) C.V.Morton & Standl., Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. Ser. 22(4): 272. 1940.

Barboza, Gloria E., Garcia, Carolina Carrizo, Bianchetti, Luciano de Bem, Romero, Maria V. & Scaldaferro, Marisel, 2022, Monograph of wild and cultivated chili peppers (Capsicum L., Solanaceae), PhytoKeys 200, pp. 1-423 : 1

24. Capsicum lanceolatum (Greenm.) C.V.Morton & Standl., Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. Ser. 22(4): 272. 1940.

Figs 79 , 80

Brachistus lanceolatus Greenm., Bot. Gaz. 37(4): 212. 1904. Type. Guatemala. Alta Verapaz: Chucaneb, 1850 m elev., Apr 1889, J. Donnell Smith 1837 (holotype: US [00027406, acc. # 1335158]).

Capsicum guatemalense Bitter, Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 20: 377. 1924. Type. Guatemala. Suchitepequez: Las Nubes, Nov 1877, C.G. Bernoulli & R. Cario 2339 (lectotype, designated here: GOET [GOET003421]; isolectotype: GOET [GOET003422]).

Type.

Based on Brachistus lanceolatus Greenm.

Description.

Erect shrubs or subshrubs, 1-3 (-5) m tall, much branched from near the base, the branches flexible. Young stems terete or slightly angled, fragile, green, glabrous or glabrescent with sparse white antrorse, curved, simple, uniseriate, 4-6-celled, eglandular trichomes 0.4-1.3 mm long; nodes green; bark of older stems brown, glabrous; lenticels absent. Sympodial units difoliate, the leaves geminate; leaf pair markedly unequal in size and shape. Leaves membranous to coriaceous, concolour, glabrous adaxially and with simple, 2-5-celled, eglandular trichomes abaxially, especially on veins and margins; blades of major leaves 6.5-16 cm long, 1.4-3.8 cm wide, elliptic to lanceolate, the major veins 5-7 on each side of mid-vein, sometimes more evident only on one side, the base long-attenuate or attenuate, asymmetric, the margins entire, the apex long-acuminate; petioles 0.5-0.8 cm long, glabrescent; blades of minor leaves (1-) 2-5.5 cm long, (0.6-) 0.8-2.7 cm wide, ovate or elliptic, the major veins 2-3 on each side of mid-vein, the base slightly asymmetric, the apex acute or obtuse; petioles 0-0.2 cm long, glabrescent. Inflorescences axillary, 1-flowered, rarely 2-flowered; flowering pedicels (15-) 25-43 mm long, thin, curved to pendent, non-geniculate at anthesis, green or purple, glabrous; pedicels scars inconspicuous. Buds ovoid, yellow-purple or intense purple. Flowers 5-merous, rarely perianth 4-merous. Calyx 1.2-2 mm long, 2-4 mm wide, cup-shaped, green or greenish-purple, glabrous or glabrescent, the calyx appendages (4-) 5, (2-) 3-5 mm long, ca. 0.7 mm wide, subequal, spreading or strongly reflexed, linear or subulate, 0.1-0.4 mm below the margin, glabrous or glabrescent. Corolla 9.8-14 mm long, 10-15 mm in diameter, purple and marginally white outside and within, campanulate with abundant interpetalar membrane, lobed 1/3 of the way to the base, glabrous abaxially and adaxially, the tube 8-11 mm, the lobes (1.8-) 2-3 mm long, 3.5-4 mm wide, triangular to broadly triangular, the margins and tips papillate or with short eglandular trichomes. Stamens five, equal or subequal; filaments 2.5-4.2 (-4.6) mm long, white or yellowish-white, inserted on the corolla 2-2.5 mm from the base, with auricles fused to the corolla at the point of insertion; anthers (1.2-) 1.5-2 mm long, ellipsoid, yellowish-white, connivent at anthesis. Gynoecium with ovary ca. 2 mm long, 1.5-1.8 mm in diameter, pale green, ellipsoid or ovoid; ovules more than two per locule; nectary 0.5 mm tall; styles homomorphic, 4.5-6 mm long, exserted 1-2 mm beyond the anthers, white; stigma ca. 0.2 mm long, ca. 0.8 mm wide, slightly bilobed, light green. Berry 7-13 mm in diameter, globose or globose-compressed, green when immature, orange or orange-red at maturity, non-pungent, the pericarp thick, opaque, lacking giant cells (endocarp smooth); stone cells absent; fruiting pedicels (25-) 30-55 mm long, pendent, terete or slightly angled, widened distally, green or greenish-purple; fruiting calyx 4-7 mm in diameter, persistent, not accrescent, green, discoid, with a strong annular constriction at junction with the pedicel, the appendages 4-9 mm long, 0.8-1 mm wide, green, strongly reflexed. Seeds (20-) 29-60 (-93) per fruit, 2-2.5 mm long, (0.8-) 1.2-1.8 mm wide, C-shaped or teardrop-shaped, brownish-black to black, the seed coat reticulate (SM and SEM), the cells polygonal to slightly irregular in shape, the lateral walls straight or slightly sinuate; embryo annular.

Distribution.

Capsicum lanceolatum is distributed in southern Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras (Fig. 75 ).

Ecology.

Capsicum lanceolatum grows in primary forest remnants or disturbed montane rain forests on steep slopes, ravines, or in stream canyons at (100-) 1,000-3,000 m elevation.

Phenology.

Flowering from May to December and fruiting all year.

Chromosome number.

2 n = 2x = 26 ( Tong and Bosland 2003).

Common names.

Guatemala: Pajarito del río (Quezaltenango, Steyermark 33429), Yerba de pajarito (Quezaltenango, Steyermark 33357).

Indigenous names.

Mexico: Tumattez (Tzeltal, Chiapas, Méndez Girón 7745), Chuj ch 'ul tumaltez (Tzeltal, Chiapas, Ton 7803).

Uses.

None recorded.

Preliminary conservation assessment.

EOO (255,067.790 km2); AOO (252 km2). Capsicum lanceolatum has a large extent of occurrence; however, based on its small area of occupancy, the continuing decline of the number of locations, the extreme fluctuations observed in the number of mature individuals in the subpopulations and the demonstrated extinction of this species in many natural habitats (Bosland and González 2000), we assign this species the Endangered (EN; B2b,c(ii,iii,iv)) status.

Discussion.

Capsicum lanceolatum is a member of the Andean clade ( Carrizo García et al. 2016; Barboza et al. 2019). It is an uncommon Mexican and Central American species that can be distinguished from all other Capsicum species by its long pedicels, solitary and large flowers, campanulate white-purple corollas, relatively large fruits (up to 13 mm diameter), non-pungent fruits and long, strongly reflexed fruiting calyx appendages (Fig. 80 ). Tong and Bosland (2003) have shown that this species is self-compatible.

The other wild Capsicum species of the Andean clade that partially overlaps in distribution with C. lanceolatum is C. rhomboideum ; this latter species is found in more disturbed areas. Capsicum lanceolatum differs from C. rhomboideum by having less vigorous habit, mostly glabrous (vs. densely pubescent) plant body, solitary flowers (vs. many-flowered inflorescences), white-purple corollas (vs. yellow) and larger fruits (berries 7-13 mm vs. 5-9 mm in diameter in C. rhomboideum ).

Capiscum guatemalense was described, based on a collection made by Bernoulli and Cario held in GOET ( Bitter 1924). Two sheets of this collection are held at GOET (GOET003421, GOET003422). The first of these (GOET003421) is the most complete and has an identification label in Bitter’s hand that we here designate as the lectotype.

Specimens examined.

See Suppl. material 4: Appendix 4.

Figures

Figure 75. Distribution of C. hookerianum and C. lanceolatum.

Figure 79. Capsicum lanceolatum A flowering branch B flower C calyx (appendages cut off) D eglandular trichome of the adaxial surface of the calyx E glandular trichome of the abaxial surface of the calyx F sector of opened corolla G gynoecium H fruit I anatomical detail of the pericarp (note the absence of giant cells in the mesocarp) J seed K seed, in cross section L structure of seed coat at the seed margin M structure of seed coat at the seed body N embryo A from Ventura A. 798 B-G from Skutch 1450 H-N from Beaman 6014. Drawn by L. Ochoa. Published in Hunziker (2001), reproduced with permission.

Figure 80. Capsicum lanceolatum A pendent flower B flower, lateral view C flower, in front view D flower showing connivent anthers E immature fruit F mature fruit G fruit, longitudinal section, showing the black seeds. From Carrizo Garcia 73. Photos by C. Carrizo Garcia.