Lycianthes bimensis (Miq.) Bitter

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

3. Lycianthes bimensis (Miq.) Bitter , Abh. Naturwiss. Verein Bremen 24 [preprint]: 490. 1919.

Fig. 10

Solanum bimense Miq. , Fl. Ned. Ind. 2: 642. 1857. Type. Indonesia. [West Nusa Tenggara]: Lesser Sunda Islands, Sumbawa, [“ in Montosis Oö, Ins. Bima, + / - 2400 ” on BO label], ca. 730 m, 10 Oct 1847, H. Zollinger 3458 (lectotype, designated here: BO [acc. # BO- 1323395]; isolectotypes: BM [BM 001019008], G [G 00415764], GH, L [L. 2881720], P [P 00369045, P 00369046, P 00369047, P 00369048], U [U 0113982]).

Type.

Based on Solanum bimense Miq.

Description.

Trees or treelets, 3–15 m tall, to 20 cm diameter; stems terete, glabrescent, sparsely pubescent with weak-walled transparent simple uniseriate 2–10 - celled trichomes when young; new growth densely floccose pubescent with transparent, golden, simple, uniseriate 2–10 - celled trichomes to 0.7 mm long, the trichomes moniliform and tangled; bark of older stems glabrescent, brown or greyish brown, smooth. Sympodial units difoliate, the leaves geminate, the leaves of a pair differing in size and occasionally in shape. Leaves simple; blades of major leaves 9–24 cm long, 4.5–14 cm wide, elliptic to elliptic-ovate, widest in the middle or just below, somewhat discolorous, membranous or chartaceous; adaxial surfaces glabrous to sparsely pubescent with simple uniseriate trichomes like those of the stems, these denser along the veins; abaxial surfaces glabrous to sparsely pubescent with simple uniseriate trichomes like those of the stems, if the lamina glabrous the trichomes confined to the principal veins and midrib; principal veins 10–14 pairs, glabrous or pubescent, the tertiary venation prominent, drying dark abaxially; base truncate and usually somewhat oblique; margins entire; apex acute to acuminate; petiole 2–7 cm long, glabrous or sparsely pubescent with simple uniseriate trichomes like those of the new growth; blades of minor leaves 3.5–9 cm long, 1.9–8 cm wide, ovate to orbicular; surfaces like those of the major leaves; principal veins of minor leaves 6–9 pairs; base truncate; margins entire; apex acute; petiole of minor leaves 0.7–2.5 cm long, glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Inflorescences axillary, in fascicles or on a short rhachis 0.2–0.5 cm long, with 8–16 flowers, glabrous or densely floccose pubescent with simple uniseriate trichomes like those of the new growth and young stems; pedicels at anthesis 1.4–1.5 cm long, ca. 0.5 mm in diameter at the base, ca. 1.5 mm in diameter at the apex, spreading, glabrous to densely floccose pubescent with simple uniseriate trichomes like those of the new growth and leaves, articulated at the base; pedicel scars tightly packed and overlapping on the short rhachis, somewhat corky. Buds long-ellipsoid, the corolla included in the calyx tube when young, ca. halfway exserted before anthesis, the calyx appendages more prominent in bud. Flowers 5 - merous, heterostylous and the plants probably dioecious. Calyx tube 3–3.5 mm long, 3–4 mm wide at the mouth, obconical, glabrous to densely pubescent with simple uniseriate trichomes like those of the pedicels, with 5 appendages arising 0.1–0.5 mm below the hyaline rim, the appendages ca. 0.5 mm long, triangular to subulate, usually perpendicular to the calyx tube, glabrous or with a few trichomes. Corolla 1.4–1.6 cm in diameter, deep to pale violet, stellate, lobed nearly to the base, abundant interpetalar tissue absent, the lobes 7–8 mm long, 2–2.5 mm wide, spreading, thick and fleshy, glabrous on both surfaces, but with a few papillae on the slightly keeled midvein adaxially, the tips and margins densely papillate, the tips cucullate. Stamens equal and the same in short- and long-styled flowers; filament tube minute; free portion of the filaments ca. 0.5 mm long, glabrous; anthers 3.5–4 mm long, 1.2–1.5 mm wide, ellipsoid, yellow (?), glabrous, poricidal at the tips, the pores tear-drop shaped and edged with white in dry material, lengthening to slits with age. Ovary conical, glabrous, vestigial in short-styled flowers; style in short-styled flowers ca. 2.5 mm long, in long-styled flowers 8–10 mm long, exserted from the anther cone, glabrous; stigma ellipsoid to long-clavate, the tip sometimes 2 - lobed, the surfaces minutely papillate. Fruit a globose berry, 0.8–1.2 cm in diameter, green when immature, bright red when mature, the pericarp glabrous, thin, matte, and opaque; fruiting pedicels 2–2.5 cm long, 1–1.5 mm in diameter at the base, 2.5–3 mm in diameter at the apex, spreading, somewhat woody and verrucose; fruiting calyx not accrescent or expanding, a flattened disc below the berry. Seeds 60–80 + per berry, 2.5–3 mm long, ca. 2.5 mm wide, rounded and not flattened, pale straw-colored, the surfaces deeply pitted, the testal cells pentagonal in outline and with prominent “ hairy ” lateral walls. Stone cells absent. Chromosome number not known.

Distribution

(Fig. 11 ). Lycianthes bimensis is confined to the lesser Sunda Islands of Flores, Sumbawa and Timor in the Indonesian provinces of East and West Nusa Tenggara.

Ecology and habitat.

Lycianthes bimensis is a forest treelet in moist to wet tropical forest on mountainsides, growing from 400 to 1,000 m elevation.

Common names.

None recorded.

Preliminary conservation assessment

( IUCN 2020). EOO (38,498 km 2 - NT); AOO (24 km 2 - EN). Lycianthes bimensis is a species known from only five localities and has a narrow distribution in the region. It occurs within the boundaries of Mount Tambora National Park on Sumbawa, but collections from there date to the 19 th century. The assessment of Vulnerable (EN) based on AOO is likely due to collecting bias, but also due to the island nature of the distribution. But based on the number of localities and threats to the habitat I consider L. bimensis to be of some conservation concern and therefore suggest a preliminary status of VU (B 2 a, b [iii]).

Discussion.

Lycianthes bimensis is a distinctive plant with long-petiolate leaves with prominent and crowded principal veins (Fig. 10 ). The flowers are heterostylous, and I have not seen berries or developing berries on specimens with short-styled flowers, suggesting L. bimensis is dioecious. The calyx of L. bimensis has 5 small appendages borne somewhat below a hyaline rim; it can be distinguished from other species with 5 calyx appendages such as L. laevis in its tree habit, fleshy corolla lobes (versus membranous lobes) and heterostylous flowers. The calyx tube in L. bimensis is usually larger (3–3.5 mm versus 1.5–2.5 mm) and more robust than that of L. laevis .

Lycianthes bimensis is most similar to L. banahaensis , both species are trees with fleshy, heterostylous flowers, dense fine pubescence on the new growth, 5 calyx appendages and orange or bright red mature berries. Lycianthes bimensis has smooth stems and dark brown bark versus the diagnostic prominently lenticellate stems and pale bark of L. banahaensis . Leaf petioles in L. bimensis are generally longer relative to leaf size than in L. banahaensis , and the flowers of L. bimensis are larger (corolla 1.4–1.6 cm in diameter versus 0.8–1 cm in diameter in L. banahaensis ). The style of long-styled flowers of L. bimensis is exserted from the anther cone and long-clavate whereas that of L. banahaensis has the style of long-styled flowers contained within the anther cone and strongly lobed. Both species occur on the island of Flores (West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia).

The type collection of L. bimensis is from an expedition to Mount Tambora on the island of Sumbawa and was made by the prolific Swiss collector Heinrich Zollinger, who studied in Geneva with the de Candolles and whose collections are widely distributed. The massive eruption of Tambora in 1815 is the largest historic volcanic eruption ( Oppenheimer 2003), expelling more volume of rock and ash and with more fatalities than that of the more well-known Krakatoa. In his time collecting in Java and the surrounding area in the 1840 s, Zollinger wished to study Tambora after the eruption to assess its effects on the local ecosystem and to document plant recovery ( Zollinger 1855). In 1847 he and his companions were the first scientists to ascend the volcano after the eruption. The summit was still wreathed in smoke but he records vegetation recovery at various levels, and also reflects that he occasionally fell through a crust to land in a warm sulphurous powder. The type collection of S. bimense is not on Tambora itself, but on an adjacent peak (Doro Omomboha, on Zollinger’s map labelled as Buha) nearer to the town of Bima.

I have lectotypified S. bimense with the sheet of Zollinger 3458 in the Bogor herbarium (BO acc. # BO- 1323395) as no herbarium was mentioned in the protologue ( Miquel 1864) and the specimen is housed in Indonesia, where L. bimensis is endemic. Miquel never travelled to Indonesia ( Stafleu 1966); it is likely that he either saw material in Leiden, where he was director of the Rijksherbarium, or sets of duplicates readied for distribution.

The designation “ Solanum floccosum Zipp. ” was published in a list of names with no description or diagnosis ( Spanoghe 1841) rendering it a nomen nudum.

Figures

Figure 10. Lycianthes bimensis (Miq.) Bitter herbarium specimen. Indonesia. Sumbawa, Zollinger 2057 (BM 001019008; isolectotype of S. bimense Miq.). Courtesy of the Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London, reproduced with permission.

Figure 11. Distribution of Lycianthes bimensis.