Solanum camranhense Dy Phon & Hul, Fl. Cambodge, Laos & Vietnam 35: 16. 2014.

Aubriot, Xavier & Knapp, Sandra, 2022, A revision of the " spiny solanums " of Tropical Asia (Solanum, the Leptostemonum Clade, Solanaceae), PhytoKeys 198, pp. 1-270 : 1

5. Solanum camranhense Dy Phon & Hul, Fl. Cambodge, Laos & Vietnam 35: 16. 2014.

Figs 1E , 10

Type.

Vietnam. Khánh Hòa: " Province Nha Trang, dunes littorales de Cam Ranh, My La face à la lagune de Bau Ro", 7 Mar 1961, Lê Công Kiêt 94 (holotype: P [P00055921]; isotype: P [P00055922]) .

Description.

Scandent shrubs, to 1.5 m tall, unarmed or sparsely prickly. Stems more or less erect, terete, unarmed or occasionally with a few scattered tiny prickles, sparsely to densely stellate-pubescent; prickles to 1.25 mm long, to 1 mm in diameter at the base, straight or curved, acicular to deltate, orange, glabrous; pubescence of mixed sessile and very short-stalked porrect-stellate trichomes, the stalks to 0.1 mm long, the rays 6-9, 0.1-0.4 mm long, the midpoints absent or up to 0.1 mm long; new growth densely stellate-pubescent, light brownish in dry material; bark of older stems brownish grey, glabrescent. Sympodial units plurifoliate, the leaves not geminate. Leaves simple, not lobed, the blades 2-3.5 cm long, 1.5-2.5 cm wide, ca. 1-1.5 times longer than wide, broadly ovate to suborbicular, chartaceous, slightly discolorous, unarmed; adaxial surface densely stellate-pubescent, the stellate trichomes porrect, sessile to stalked, the stalks to 0.1 mm, the rays 6-8, 0.1-0.4 mm long, the midpoints to 0.1 mm; abaxial surface densely stellate-pubescent with trichomes like those of the adaxial surface; major veins 3-5 pairs, drying yellowish light-green; base truncate to subcordate; margins entire or shallowly sinuate; apex obtuse; petioles 0.4-1 cm long, 1/5-1/3 of the leaf blade length, unarmed and densely stellate-pubescent, the pubescence of sessile and short-stalked stellate-trichomes like those of the blades. Inflorescences 1.5-2 cm long, internodal and lateral, sometimes appearing terminal, unbranched, with ca. 4-7 flowers, only 1 or 2 flowers open at any one time, densely stellate-pubescent, with a mix of sessile and short-stalked porrect trichomes like those of the stems, unarmed; peduncle 0.5-2 cm long, unarmed; pedicels 5-9 mm long, ca. 0.5 mm in diameter at the base, ca. 1 mm in diameter at the apex, spreading to erect, unarmed, densely stellate-pubescent with porrect trichomes like those of the inflorescence axes, articulated at the base; pedicel scars irregularly spaced 0.5-4 mm apart. Buds elongate ellipsoid, more or less strongly exserted from the calyx before anthesis. Flowers 5-merous, apparently all perfect. Calyx with the tube ca. 3 mm long, campanulate, the lobes 2-3 mm long, ca. 1 mm wide, deltate and constricting to a short acumen, the acumen 1/4-1/3 the total lobe length, unarmed and densely stellate-pubescent abaxially with porrect-stellate trichomes like those of the pedicels. Corolla 0.8-1 cm in diameter, blue to light purple, stellate, lobed ca. 3/4 of the way to the base, the lobes 5-7 mm long, 1.5-2 mm wide, deltate, spreading at anthesis, densely stellate-pubescent abaxially on parts exposed in bud. Stamens equal; anthers 4-6 mm long, ca. 0.75 mm wide, tapering, orange, glabrous, poricidal at the tips, the pores not lengthening to slits with age; filament tube <0.5 mm long, glabrous; free portion of the filaments 0.5-1 mm long, glabrous. Ovary globose, with minute glandular hairs; style 7-8.5 mm long, slender, curved at the apex, glabrous; stigma capitate, minutely papillate. Fruit a globose berry, several per infructescence, 0.5-0.8 cm in diameter, the pericarp thin and smooth, red when mature, glabrous; fruiting pedicels 0.7-1 cm long, 0.5-1 mm in diameter at the base, 1.6-2 mm in diameter at the apex, woody, erect to spreading, straight to slightly deflexed, unarmed; fruiting calyx lobes not expanding, 1/2-2/3 the length of the mature fruit, broadly deltate, reflexed, unarmed. Seeds 8-10 per berry, 2.5-3 mm long, 2-2.5 mm wide, flattened-reniform, dull yellow, the surface minutely pitted, the testal cells pentagonal in outline. Chromosome number: not known.

Distribution

(Fig. 11 ). Solanum camranhense is endemic to Vietnam; the few known collections are restricted to Khánh Hòa and Bình Thuận provinces of South Vietnam.

Ecology and habitat.

Solanum camranhense has only been collected on coastal dunes of stabilized red sands; 15-20 m elevation.

Common names and uses.

Vietnam. Khánh Hòa: củ vè [Vietnamese] (Chevalier 38932).

Preliminary conservation status

( IUCN 2019). Endangered (EN [B2ab(i,ii,iii)]); EOO (555 km2), AOO 16 km2). Due to the paucity of collections, it is difficult to document the range of Solanum camranhense with confidence. However, its occurrence in the fragmented and anthropogenically disturbed habitats of coastal southern Vietnam ( Wikramanayake et al. 2002) suggests it is of conservation concern.

Discussion.

Solanum camranhense is morphologically similar to the sympatric S. robinsonii , but differs from that species in its scandent (versus erect) habit, the denser pubescence that dries yellowish brown, shorter leaves (2-3.5 cm long versus 3-8 cm long in S. robinsonii ), and smaller, more deeply lobed corollas (usually less than 1 cm in diameter and lobed 3/4 of the way to the base versus 1-2 cm in diameter and only lobed halfway to the base in S. robinsonii ). Hul and Dy Phon (2014) described S. camranhense as unarmed, but we have seen specimens with a few scattered prickles on the scandent stems. The two species differ in habitat; S. camranhense is a plant of coastal dunes, while S. robinsonii occurs in coastal forests.

Solanum camranhense is a member of the clade ' S. camranhense and relatives ' of Aubriot et al. (2016a) with S. nienkui and S. putii ; S. robinsonii has not been included in any molecular analyses to date, but we expect it to be closely related to these taxa.

Specimens examined.

See Suppl. materials 1-3.

Figures

Figure 1. Diversity of habits and habitats for Solanum subgenus Leptostemonum in tropical Asia A Solanum giganteum, a small tree of the tropical forest understory in India and Sri Lanka (field photograph, unvouchered, India) B S. trilobatum, a scandent species in its typical habitat, along the road in mangrove area (Meeboonya et al. RM 245, Thailand) C S. lasiocarpum, an erect shrub found in disturbed and human inhabited areas where it is often cultivated (Meeboonya et al. RM 272, Thailand) D S. cyanocarphium, a creeper with decumbent stems in forest understory (field photograph, unvouchered, Vietnam) E S. camranhense, a scandent shrub endemic to the coastal dunes of South Vietnam (field photograph, unvouchered, Vietnam) F S. insanum, the wild progenitor of the brinjal eggplant usually found in degraded areas (Meeboonya et al. RM 305, Thailand). Photograph credits: A S. More B, C, F X. Aubriot; D M. Nuraliev E S. Hul.

Figure 10. Solanum camranhense Dy Phon & Hul A herbarium specimen (holotype) collected in Vietnam in 1961 (Le Cong Kiet 94, P 00055921) B inflorescence (field photograph, unvouchered, Vietnam) C detail view of the fruits (field photograph, unvouchered, Vietnam). Photograph credits: A CC-BY, Museum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris B, C S. Hul.

Figure 11. Distribution of S. camranhense.