Lycianthes barbatula Standl. & Steyerm., Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. Ser. 23(5): 228 1947

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

6 Lycianthes barbatula Standl. & Steyerm., Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. Ser. 23(5): 228 1947 Fig. 16

Type.

Guatemala. Suchitepéquez: Volcán Santa Clara, between Finca El Naranjo and upper slopes, 1250-2650 m, 23 May 1942, J.A. Steyermark 46653 (holotype: F [0072901F, acc.# 1148517]; isotypes: NY [00138703], US [00624009]).

Description.

Shrub, erect to scandent (sometimes described as a vine), 3-5 m tall. Indument of small white, uniseriate, multicellular, simple, curved, eglandular, appressed-ascending trichomes 0.1-1 mm long. Stems green when young, glabrous to sparsely pubescent, ribbed to 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 4-15 × 1.5-6.5 cm, the smaller ones with blades 1-9 × 0.7-4 cm, the leaf pairs usually similar in shape, the blades narrowly ovate to elliptic or obovate, thick chartaceous, glabrous except for tufts of trichomes located in the axils along the midvein of the abaxial side, the base cuneate to attenuate, sometimes oblique, the margin entire, usually undulate, the apex acute to acuminate, the petiole 0.2-2 cm long, sometimes absent, the larger leaf blades with 5-10 primary veins on each side of the midvein. Flowers solitary or in groups of 2-8, axillary, oriented horizontally to nodding; peduncles absent; pedicels 20-30 mm long and arching in flower, to 40 mm long and spreading to deflexed in fruit, glabrous to sparsely pubescent; calyx 1.5-2.5 mm long, 3-4 mm in diameter, obconic to campanulate, sparsely pubescent, the margin truncate, with 10 linear, erect to spreading appendages 0.5-2 mm long, emerging 0.5 mm below the calyx rim; fruiting calyx usually enlarged, widely campanulate to bowl-shaped, sometimes splitting, 3-4 mm long, 5-8 mm in diameter, the appendages 2.5-4 mm long, spreading; corolla 0.7-2 cm long, rotate to campanulate in orientation, entire to slightly stellate in outline, divided 0-1/5 of the way to the base, with abundant interpetalar tissue, adaxially white with lavender ring near stamen insertion, abaxial color unknown, glabrous; stamens equal or nearly so, the filaments 2-2.5 mm long, glabrous, the anthers 2.5-3 mm long, elliptic, free of one another, brownish-yellow, 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; stigma capitate to oblong, decurrent down two sides. Fruit a berry, 10-12 mm long, 10-12 mm in diameter, globose to ovoid, changing from green to white as it matures, possibly remaining white or changing to blue-grey or purple at maturity, glabrous, lacking sclerotic granules. Seeds ca. 20 per fruit, 3-3.5 × 2-2.5 mm, flattened, triangular to depressed ovate in outline, tan to orange-brown, the surface reticulum with minute serpentine pattern with shallow luminae.

Chromosome number.

Unknown.

Distribution and habitat.

Mexico (Oaxaca, probably also Chiapas) and Guatemala (Chimaltenango, Quezaltenango, Suchitepéquez), in tropical moist forest, cloud forest, and near coffee plantations, 920-1600 m in elevation. [Note: type specimen has a high elevational range of 2650 m, but the specimen may not have been collected that high.] Our knowledge of the distribution and ecology of this species is incomplete due to the paucity of specimens in herbaria (Fig. 17 ).

Common names and uses.

None known.

Phenology.

Flowering specimens have been collected in May and June. Specimens with mature fruits have been collected in September and January. Immature fruits have been collected in January. The phenological record is incomplete due to a paucity of specimens. The corollas on the specimens of this species are often open; this indicates that the corollas are open for a substantial amount of time each day.

Preliminary conservation status.

Lycianthes barbatula is a rarely collected species of Mexico and Guatemala, represented by only 11 collections, only one of which is from a protected area (Cuenca del Lago Atitlán, Guatemala). The EOO is 20,500.215 km2, and the AOO is 28 km2. Following the IUCN (2019) criteria, the preliminary assessment category is Endangered (EN).

Discussion.

Lycianthes barbatula is morphologically similar to L. manantlanensis and L. orogenes with which it shares relatively thick leaves (thick chartaceous to coriaceous), relatively glabrous foliage, long, delicate, arching pedicels, white corollas, and equal to nearly equal stamens with yellowish anthers, sometimes with a brownish connective. Lycianthes barbatula differs from the other two species in having longer calyx appendages and tufts of trichomes in the vein axils along the midvein of the abaxial side of the leaf blade. The fruit color of L. barbatula has been recorded on several specimen labels as being white, and this is also the color given in Gentry and Standley (1974), but there is uncertainty as to whether this is the final color at maturity or a transitional color, as other specimens mention blue-grey or blue-purple fruits.

Representative specimens examined.

Guatemala. Chimaltenango: Volcán Acatenanago, Aldea Quisache, 14.51806, -90.2844, 1500 m, 19 May 2004, M. Véliz 15261 (BIGU, MEXU). Quetzaltenango: above Finca Montevideo, along Barranco Espinazo and tributary of Río Pantaleón, lower and middle southwestern slopes of Volcán Fuego, 1200-1600 m, 20 Sep 1942, J.A. Steyermark 52055 (US). Suchitépequez: Volcán Santa Clara, between Finca El Naranjo and upper slopes. 1250-2650 m, 23 May 1942, J.A. Steyermark 46653 (US). Mexico. Oaxaca: Dto. Pochutla, El Vigía, 16.0125, -96.1108, 1519 m, 24 Jun 2008, J. Pascual 2155 (DAV).

Figures

Figure 16. Image of herbarium specimen of L. barbatula. Pascual 2155 (DAV). Image used with permission of the UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity.

Figure 17. Map of geographic distribution of L. barbatula based on herbarium specimen data.