Capsicum longidentatum Agra & Barboza, Syst. Bot. 36(3): 771. 2011.

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

25. Capsicum longidentatum Agra & Barboza, Syst. Bot. 36(3): 771. 2011.

Figs 81 , 82

Type.

Brazil. Bahia: Mun. Itatim, Morro da Pedra Grande, base do Morro , 12°42'57"S, 39°45'46"W, 285 m elev., 8 Apr 2006, E. Melo, F. França, C.T. Lima & C . Cunha 4344 (holotype: HUEFS [HUEFS000001093, acc. # 109249]).

Description.

Erect, slender or semi-scandent shrubs (1-) 1.5-4 m tall, much branched from near the base. Young stems angled, fragile, greyish or brown, glabrous, the youngest stems densely pubescent with furcate and dendritic eglandular trichomes 0.2-0.9 mm long; nodes green; bark of older stems greyish, glabrous; lenticels absent. Sympodial units difoliate, the leaves geminate; leaf pair unequal in size, similar in shape. Leaves membranous, discolorous, green above, light green or yellowish-green beneath, densely pubescent on both surfaces, especially abaxially, with simple uniseriate eglandular trichomes and branched trichomes similar to those of the stems; blades of major leaves 3.5-5.4 cm long, 1.5-2.5 cm wide, ovate, the major veins 4-5 on each side of mid-vein, the base short-attenuate or truncate and unequal, the margins entire, the apex acuminate; petioles (0.3-) 0.5-1.5 cm, densely pubescent; blades of minor leaves 2.5-3 cm long, 1-1.3 cm wide, ovate, the major veins 3-4 on each side of mid-vein, the base attenuate, the margins entire, the apex acute; petioles 0.2-0.5 cm long, densely pubescent. Inflorescences axillary, 2-5 flowers, rarely flowers solitary; flowering pedicels (6.5-) 8-23 mm long, strongly angled, pendent, non-geniculate at anthesis, with abundant spreading dendritic trichomes; pedicels scars inconspicuous. Buds ovoid, whitish-green. Flowers 5-merous. Calyx 2-4 mm long, 3-3.5 mm wide, cup-shaped, thick, greenish-yellow, strongly 5 (-6)-nerved, densely pubescent with branched trichomes, the calyx appendages 5 (-6), (4.5-) 5-8.5 mm long, 0.1-0.2 mm wide, subequal or unequal, erect, greenish-yellow, linear, inserted very close to the margin, with the same indumentum as calyx tube. Corolla 6-7.5 mm long, white outside, white with greenish-yellow spots in the lobes and throat and white centre within, stellate with interpetalar membrane, lobed nearly halfway to the base, pubescent adaxially with small glandular trichomes (stalk long, 2-celled; head globose, unicellular) in the throat and base of the lobes, glabrous abaxially, the tube 3-3.5 mm long, the lobes 3.3-3.6 (-4) mm long, 2-2.5 mm wide, broadly triangular, the margins involute densely pubescent, the tips cucullate densely papillate. Stamens five, equal; filaments 1.25-2 mm long, cream, inserted on the corolla ca. 1.5 mm from the base, with auricles fused to the corolla at the point of insertion; anthers 2-2.5 mm long, ellipsoid, cream or light brown, not connivent at anthesis. Gynoecium with ovary ca. 2 mm long, 1.3-1.4 mm in diameter, greenish-white, ovoid; ovules more than two per locule; nectary ca. 0.3 mm tall; styles homomorphic, 3.5-3.75 mm, exserted ca. 1 mm beyond the anthers, greenish-white, clavate; stigma ca. 0.3 mm long, 0.6 mm wide, somewhat discoid, light green. Berry 7.5-9.5 mm long, 7-8.5 mm in diameter, globose or subglobose, slightly flattened at the apex, light green when immature, colour at maturity unknown, probably yellowish-green, deciduous, non-pungent, the pericarp with giant cells (endocarp alveolate); stone cells absent; fruiting pedicels 15-20 mm long, pendent, angled, slightly widened distally, green; fruiting calyx 5-6 mm in diameter, persistent, not accrescent, green, discoid, strongly 5(-6)-nerved, the appendages 5-8.5 mm long, ca. 0.3 mm wide, spreading, green. Seeds (3-) 5-17 per fruit, 3-3.7 mm long, 2.5-2.8 mm wide, C-shaped or ellipsoid, brown to brownish-black, faintly reticulate (SM), cerebelloid (SEM), the cells irregular in shape, the lateral walls wavy to strongly sinuate; embryo imbricate.

Distribution.

Capsicum longidentatum is endemic to the core of the Brazilian Caatinga (Bahia, Mina Gerais, and Pernambuco States) (Fig. 78 ).

Ecology.

Capsicum longidentatum is common at the base of the inselbergs, on granitic hillsides with shrubby open vegetation and in gallery forests along small rivers, between 250 and 900 m.

Phenology.

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

Chromosome number.

2 n = 2x = 24 ( Barboza et al. 2011).

Common names.

None recorded.

Uses.

None recorded.

Preliminary conservation assessment.

EOO (275,449.384 km2); AOO (92 km2). Capsicum longidentatum is a species restricted to the Caatinga, an ecosystem with significant human disturbance and habitat fragmentation ( Antongiovanni et al. 2018). Although this species has large EOO and number of locations, the continuing decline observed in its habitat and the projected risk of loss of suitable climate conditions for the Caatinga endemic species ( Silva et al. 2019), suggest this species could be seriously threatened in the future. Thus, we consider C. longidentatum to merit a status of Near Threatened (NT).

Discussion.

In phylogenetic analyses, C. longidentatum was resolved as an isolated branch and assigned to the monotypic Longidentatum clade, but the species placement is not strongly supported ( Carrizo García et al. 2016). This situation could be due to the high percentage of missing data recorded for this species in the dataset analysed by Carrizo García et al. (2016), for which reason the case is being reviewed. Preliminary data, based on a dense DNA dataset, would indicate that it is related to species of the Caatinga clade (CCG, pers. obs.). Capsicum longidentatum (Fig. 82 ) is unique and easily recognisable by its dense, branched indumentum (furcate and dendritic trichomes on young stems, leaves, pedicels and calyces) and the longest linear calyx appendages in the genus, reaching 8.5 mm in length ( Barboza et al. 2011). The mature fruits are non-pungent.

Capsicum longidentatum is distinguishable from C. parvifolium and C. caatingae , the other members of the Caatinga clade, in its long calyx appendages (4.5-8.5 mm long), white corolla with greenish-yellow spots within, densely branched pubescence (though furcate or dendritic trichomes appear occasionally in C. caatingae and C. parvifolium , respectively) and non-pungent fruits. Capsicum caatingae and C. parvifolium have corollas mostly purple, usually simple pubescence and pungent fruits. Capsicum caatingae lacks of calyx appendages (vs. five, rarely six, in C. longidentatum ) and has arborescent habit and multi-flowered inflorescences (vs. shrubby habit and few-flowered inflorescences in C. longidentatum ), while C. parvifolium has similar habit and inflorescences as C. longidentatum , but the 5 (-7) calyx appendages are shorter (0.7-2.2 mm long).

There are few reports on labels of the fruit colour of Capsicum longidentatum at full maturity; it may be yellow ( Gonçalves et al. 175, Pastore & Harley 2603, Socorro 150, Melo 4693) or orange (Pastore & Harley 2603). Both colour and consistency of the pericarp need to be checked in the field to observe whether it is similar to Brazilian species with greenish-golden yellow gelatinous fruits (Atlantic forest species and also C. parvifolium ) or to the red fruited species, such as C. caatingae .

Specimens examined.

See Suppl. material 4: Appendix 4.

Figures

Figure 78. Distribution of C. hunzikerianum, C. longidentatum and C. longifolium.

Figure 81. Capsicum longidentatum A reproductive branch B detail of a flowering node C flower bud D flower, upper view E opened corolla (one stamen has been removed) F, G anthers, ventral and dorsal views, respectively H gynoecium I fruit J fruiting calyx K seed L embryo A, D, E, F-H from Melo et al. 4344 B, C, I-L from Agra & Barboza 7086. Drawn by L. Ribulgo. Published in Barboza et al. (2011), reproduced with permission.

Figure 82. Capsicum longidentatum A habitat (Caatinga) B plant C typical aspect of the plant in the arid caatinga D flowering branch E pendent flower F flower, in front view G immature fruit H fruiting calyx I seed A-C, G-I from Agra & Barboza 7086 D-F from Tabosa et al. 55 A-C, G-I photos by G. E. Barboza D-F photos by J. R. Stehmann.