Capsicum minutiflorum (Rusby) Hunz., Huitieme Congr. Int. Bot. Paris, Comptes Rend. Seances Rapp. & Commun. 1954, sect.4: 74. 1956.

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

28. Capsicum minutiflorum (Rusby) Hunz., Huitieme Congr. Int. Bot. Paris, Comptes Rend. Seances Rapp. & Commun. 1954, sect.4: 74. 1956.

Fig. 87

Bassovia minutiflora Rusby, Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 7: 343. 1927. Type. Bolivia. La Paz: Prov. Sud Yungas, Vic. Huachi, head of Beni River, 3000 ft elev., 21 Aug 1921, H.H. Rusby 680 (holotype: NY [00138548]; isotypes: GH [GH00077005], MICH [1109880], MO [MO-1642901, acc. # 5468836], US [US00027424, acc. # 1284151]).

Type.

Based on Bassovia minutiflora Rusby.

Description.

Erect slender shrubs or subshrubs (1-) 1.5-3 (-5) m tall, with the main stem thick 3-4 cm in diameter at base, few to much branched above. Young stems angled, fragile, green, sparsely pubescent, with antrorse, curved, simple, uniseriate, 3-4-celled, eglandular trichomes 0.05-0.6 mm long; nodes solid, green; bark of older stems fissured, light brown, glabrous; lenticels absent. Sympodial units difoliate, the leaves geminate; leaf pair unequal in size, similar or dissimilar in shape. Leaves membranous, concolorous or slightly discolorous, glabrous or sparsely pubescent on both surfaces, with simple, eglandular trichomes like those of the stems on margins and especially along the main veins abaxially, sometimes trichomes in tufts in the vein axils abaxially; blades of major leaves 3.5-9 (-10.5) cm long, (0.8-) 2.5-3.5 (-4.5) cm wide, ovate to elliptic, the major veins 3-4 (-6) on each side of mid-vein, the base attenuate and rather asymmetrical, the margins entire, the apex acuminate or acute; petioles 0.25-0.8 cm long, sparsely pubescent; blades of minor leaves 2.5-3.2 cm long, 0.65-1.6 cm wide, ovate, the major veins 2-3 on each side of mid-vein, the base short-attenuate, the margins entire, the apex acute; petioles 0.2-0.3 cm long, sparsely pubescent. Inflorescences axillary, 4-5-flowers per axil; flowering pedicels 1-17 (-25) mm long, terete, slightly striate, erect, geniculate at anthesis, green, sparsely pubescent, the eglandular trichomes short, antrorse; pedicels scars inconspicuous. Buds ovoid, greenish-yellow. Flowers 5-merous. Calyx 1.75-2 mm long, 2.3-2.5 mm wide, cup-shaped, thick, green, sparsely pubescent with the same eglandular trichomes as those of stems, the calyx appendages five (rarely absent), 1-1.5 mm long, equal or subequal, spreading to reflexed, erect, usually cylindrical. Corolla 6.5-8 (8.5-) mm long, 8.5-9 mm in diameter, thin, yellow outside, pale or dull yellow slightly spotted with yellowish-green within, stellate with interpetalar membrane, lobed less than halfway to the base, pubescent adaxially with sparse glandular hairs (stalk 2-3-celled; head peltate, unicellular) in the throat and the lobes; the tube 3.5-5 mm, with sparse short eglandular trichomes abaxially, the lobes 3-3.5 mm long, 1.8-2 mm wide, triangular, with sparse eglandular trichomes abaxially and in the margins, the margins involute, the tips cucullate, papillate. Stamens five, equal; filaments 2-2.5 mm long, white, inserted on the corolla ca. 1.2 mm from the base, with auricles fused to the corolla at the point of insertion; anthers 1.6-2 mm long, ellipsoid, yellow, not connivent at anthesis. Gynoecium with ovary ca. 1.2 mm long, 1.5 mm in diameter, dark green, subglobose; ovules more than two per locule; nectary ca. 0.2-0.3 mm tall; styles homomorphic, 3-3.5 mm, exserted ca. 1 mm beyond the anthers, white, clavate; stigma ca. 0.2 mm long, 0.5 mm wide, discoid, light green. Berry 7-10 mm in diameter, globose, green when immature, bright red at maturity, deciduous, pungent, the pericarp thick, opaque, with giant cells (endocarp alveolate); stone cells absent; fruiting pedicels 1.8-2.3 cm long, erect, faintly angled, widened distally, green; fruiting calyx 2.5-3 mm in diameter, persistent, not accrescent, green, discoid, with a strong annular constriction at junction with the pedicel, the appendages up to 1.4 mm long, spreading or reflexed. Seeds 5-19 per fruit, 4-4.5 mm long, 3-3.5 mm wide, C-shaped, ellipsoid or subglobose, dark brown, the seed coat diffusely reticulate and slightly tuberculate at margins (SM), reticulate or reticulate-cerebelloid (SEM), the cells irregular in seed body and polygonal at margins, the lateral walls sinuate in the seed body and straight and wavy at margins; embryo imbricate.

Distribution.

Capsicum minutiflorum is endemic to central Bolivia (Cochabamba, La Paz, Santa Cruz Departments) (Fig. 86 ).

Ecology.

Capsicum minutiflorum is an uncommon plant that grows in the subtropical semi-deciduous forest (Chiquitano Forest) and transitional forests to the Yungas on slopes or along streams and occasionally on road-sides, between 350 and 1,500 (-2,800) m elevation.

Phenology.

Flowering from October to May; fruiting from November to July.

Chromosome number.

Not known.

Common names.

None recorded.

Uses.

None recorded, but it is likely that the fruits are used as spices due to their similarities in colour and pungency with C. baccatum var. baccatum .

Preliminary conservation assessment.

EOO (101,632.300 km2); AOO (108 km2). Capsicum minutiflorum has a relatively large extent of occurrence growing in more than ten localities; it can be assigned the preliminary Least Concern (LC) category. However, this species is of some conservation concern because of its relatively small AOO and the small number of records in protected areas (Amboro National Park, Santa Cruz).

Discussion.

Capsicum minutiflorum is a member of the Bolivian clade ( Carrizo García et al. 2016). This poorly-known species has few collections and is one of the five Bolivian species (with C. caballeroi , C. ceratocalyx , C. coccineum and C. neei ) with yellow corollas. The calyx normally has five short appendages, but in some specimens (Buchtien 2231 and Vargas C. et al. 2173), they are lacking.

Capsicum minutiflorum is often confused with the sympatric C. baccatum var. baccatum and C. neei. All these three taxa share the few-flowered inflorescences and the red pungent fruits. Capsicum minutiflorum and C. neei can be distinguished by its yellow corollas with greenish-yellow spots within (vs. white corollas with greenish-yellow spots within in C. baccatum var. baccatum ), this character not being evident in herbarium specimens. In addition, C. minutiflorum (Fig. 87 ) and C. neei (Fig. 95 ) plants are few-branched taller shrubs with globose fruits. In contrast, C. baccatum plants can be highly-branched perennial herbs, subshrubs or shrubs growing up to 1.5 m (rarely more) and have globose to ellipsoid fruits (Fig. 26 ). Capsicum minutiflorum differs from C. neei in its geniculate and erect flowering pedicels and a weakly nerved calyx with five equal, short appendages, while C. neei has non-geniculate, pendent flowering pedicels and strongly-nerved calyx with 10 unequal appendages. Another sympatric species is the more widespread C. coccineum , which differs from C. minutiflorum by its peculiar sprawling or scrambling habit, its showy multi-flowered inflorescences and its calyx with 0-10 unequal appendages (Fig. 50 ).

Specimens examined.

See Suppl. material 4: Appendix 4.

Figures

Figure 26. Capsicum baccatum var. baccatum A plant B flower bud C purple flower bud D, E, F flowers at anthesis, different views G young fruiting branch showing ovary with long and short styles H immature fruits I mature fruit A, C from Barboza 4913 B, D-F, H from Barboza 5038 G from Barboza 2431 bis, I from Barboza et al. 3419. Photos by G. E. Barboza.

Figure 50. Capsicum coccineum A plant B fruiting node with many pedicels scars C young immature fruit D immature fruit with calyx reflexed E mature fruit with calyx reflexed. From Barboza et al. 4921. Photos by G. E. Barboza.

Figure 86. Distribution of C. lycianthoides, C. minutiflorum and C. mirabile.

Figure 87. Capsicum minutiflorum A plant B major leaf C flowering branch D flower bud on geniculate pedicel E flower, in front view F flower, in lateral view G fruiting branch H immature fruit I mature fruit. From Barboza et al. 4918. Photos by G. E. Barboza.

Figure 95. Capsicum neei A plant B leaves, abaxial surface C flower bud D flower, in lateral view E flower, in front view F flower, seen from behind G immature fruit H, I mature fruits J fruit, longitudinal section, showing the seeds A-G from Barboza et al. 4927 H-J from Barboza & Reyes 5040. Photos by G. E. Barboza. Modified from Barboza et al. (2019), reproduced with permission.