Lycianthes (Dunal) Hassl.

Knapp, Sandra, 2024, A revision of Lycianthes (Solanaceae) in tropical Asia, PhytoKeys 245, pp. 1-106 : 1-106

Lycianthes (Dunal) Hassl. , Annuaire Conserv. Jard. Bot. Geneve 20: 180. 1917 nom. cons.

Otilix Raf. , Medical Fl. 2: 87. 1830, nom. utique rej. Type. Lycianthes lycioides (L.) Hassl . (as Solanum lycioides L. )

Solanum subsect. Lycianthes Dunal, Prodr. [A. P. de Candolle] 31 (1): 29. 1852. Type (designated by D’Arcy 1972, pg. 211). Lycianthes lycioides (L.) Hassl . (as Solanum lycioides L. )

Parascopolia Baill. , Hist. Pl. 9: 338. 1888, nom rej. Type. Lycianthes acapulcensis (Baill.) D’Arcy (as Parascopolia acapulcensis Baill. )

Type.

Lycianthes lycioides (L.) Hassl . (as Solanum lycioides L. )

Description.

Perennial herbs, shrubs, vines, lianas or trees, sometimes epiphytic. Stems terete or angled, glabrous or pubescent with simple (unbranched), forked, dendritic or stellate trichomes, these usually eglandular, but sometimes glandular. New growth usually with minute papillae, these sometimes glandular. Sympodial units unifoliate or difoliate, if difoliate the leaves geminate and often differing in both size and shape (anisophyllous). Leaves simple, entire, glabrous or pubescent with simple (unbranched), forked, dendritic or stellate trichomes, these usually eglandular, but sometimes glandular; petioles well-developed or not. Inflorescences axillary or adnate to the stems and caulescent ( L. kaernbachii of New Guinea only), fasciculate or with a short rhachis; pedicels articulated at the base. Flowers 4–6 - merous, usually 5 - merous, but some species (e. g., L. banahaensis often 4 - merous), cosexual or heterostylous, long- and short-styled flowers borne on the same or different plants (in Australia, New Guinea and the Pacific probably dioecious). Calyx with various numbers (usually multiples of five, but sometimes fewer) appendages protruding from the calyx tube below or just at the truncate rim, or appendages lacking; appendages small bumps to obovoid to linear or linear subulate in shape. Corolla rotate to deeply stellate, white to deep purple or yellow ( L. banahaensis ), often with the midvein of the lobes darker and the centre paler or yellow-green, interpetalar tissue present or absent, the lobes minute (rotate corollas) or long-triangular, spreading, cupped or reflexed at anthesis. Stamens equal or unequal due to anther and / or filament differences; anthers plumply ellipsoid and obovate to tapering at the tips, usually dehiscing by apical pores opening to longitudinal slits with age or not, these occasionally longitudinally dehiscent. Ovary conical, glabrous; style straight or curved, the stigma minutely capitate, clavate or strongly bifid with diverging lobes. Fruit a berry, globose to ellipsoid to ovoid, green, orange, red or purple, sometimes with stone cells in the mesocarp. Seeds few to many, usually flattened, often triangular in outline, sometimes winged (e. g., L. moszkowskii of New Guinea). Chromosome number: n = 12, 24 (few species have chromosome counts).

Distribution and ecology.

Species of Lycianthes are found in the Americas, Asia, Australia, New Guinea and the islands of the Pacific. Species richness is concentrated in Mexico and Central America. No Lycianthes species are native to Africa, Europe or North America north of Mexico.

Discussion.

By far the greatest species diversity in Lycianthes occurs in the Americas (see Dean et al. 2020), but significant diversity occurs in Asia and New Guinea ( Knapp 2022; see Fig. 1 ). The description above attempts to cover variation across the distribution, both in the Americas and outside.

As discussed above and in the Introduction, the species treated here are mostly found throughout Asia, and although they may not be a phylogenetically distinct group, they are geographically logical to treat as a unit.

Synoptic character list for Lycianthes in Asia

This synoptical character list can be used as a multi-entry key for identification. I have only listed diagnostic characters here rather than the more common character state. For example, here I list inflorescences with more than 10 flowers, but not the more general case of few-flowered. For detailed distributional information please see Table 2 . The list is intended to be used as a tool via a process of elimination; any character can be selected and in combination with other characters, a smaller selection of species can be obtained, for which the descriptions will be useful for coming to a final identification.

Cultivated plants: rantonnetii

Plants herbaceous and prostrate: lysimachioides

Plants epiphytic shrubs: parasitica

Plants woody lianas: oliveriana

Plants small trees: banahaensis, bimensis

Plants shrubby or sprawling shrubs: biflora, laevis, lysimachioides, rantonnetii, schizocalyx, shunningensis

Pubescence on vegetative parts of dendritic (branched) trichomes: biflora

Bark of stems pale, shiny and exfoliating: parasitica

Bark of stems conspicuously lenticellate: banahaensis

Calyx appendages absent, or apparently so: banahaensis, bimensis, laevis, oliveriana, parasitica

Calyx appendages 5 or sometimes fewer: banahaensis, bimensis, laevis, parasitica

Calyx appendages more than 5 (usually 10): biflora, lysimachioides, schizocalyx, shunningensis

Calyx appendages markedly reflexed: shunningensis

Calyx in fruit warty and partly enclosing the berry: oliveriana

Flowers heterostylous: banahaensis, bimensis, oliveriana

Corolla rotate: rantonnetii (cultivated)

Corolla lobes somewhat fleshy and thick: banahaensis, bimensis, oliveriana

Corolla yellow: banahaensis

Anthers pubescent: biflora

Berry bright red at maturity: banahaensis, bimensis, biflora, laevis, schizocalyx, shunningensis

Berry purple or blackish purple at maturity: oliveriana

Berry orange at maturity: parasitica

Berry with copious stone cells: rantonnetii (cultivated)

Berry with few seeds (2–4): parasitica

Seeds with conspicuous “ hairy ” lateral cell walls: bimensis, parasitica, shunningensis

Species descriptions

Figures

Figure 1. Distribution of species of Lycianthes native outside of the Americas (including all species treated in Knapp 2022). Darker squares indicate those with higher species richness. The cultivated L. rantonnetii is not included here.