You selected: Solanum macbridei Lorentzia 4: 17. 1981. Status: Accepted.
Solanum macbridei , Lorentzia 4: 17. 1981. Type: Peru. Cuzco: Quispicanchis, Marcapata, 12000 ft, 17 Oct 1937, Stafford 984 (holotype, K; isotypes, BM, F). [ Stafford, D 984;]
Synonyms
Witheringia microphylla , in Lechler, Berberid. Amer. Austral. 58. 1857.
Names associated with this species that have not been validly published
Solanum microphyllum , Berberid. Amer. Austral. 58. 1857.
Last edited by Knapp, S. July 2004. Description based on taxon concept by Knapp, S. pages 96-97 in Knapp, S. 1989. A revision of the Solanum nitidum species group (section Holophylla pro parte: Solanaceae). Bull. Br. Mus. Nat. Hist. (Bot.) 19: 63-112.
Habit
Shrubs with many erect branches, 1-1.5 m tall; young stems densely pubescent with dendritic trichomes, these persistent,; leaf scars very prominent, the stems trongly winged from the decurrent leaf bases; bark of older stems grey-brown, sparsely pubescent with dendritic trichomes. New growth purplish, glabrous except for a few dendritic trichomes on the revolute leaf margins.
Sympodial structure
Sympodial units plurifoliate, branching dichasial, the branches and branchlets erect and densely packed.
Leaves
Leaves narrowly elliptic, shiny, fleshy and coriaceous, the margins strongly revolute, 0.9-2.3 cm x 0.2-0.7 cm, the secondary venation obscure, both surfaces glabrous except for a few dendritic trichomes on the revolute margins and on the midvein of the adaxial surface; petiole very short to absent, usually 1-2 mm.
Inflorescences
Inflorescences terminal, appearing lateral from overtopping shoot growth, the axis completely glabrous and shiny, compact and more or less globose, 0.2-1 cm long, branching 2-4 times, with 2-5 flowers. Pedicels inserted in a prominent sleeve 1-1.5 mm long, glabrous, 0.45-0.5 cm long, deflexed and nodding at anthesis, tapering from a basal diameter of 0.5 mm to an apical diameter of ca. 1 mm. Buds globose, later elliptic, the corolla strongly exserted from the calyx tube.
Flowers
Flowers with the calyx tube conical, ca. 0.5 mm long, lobes broadly deltate, ca. 0.5 mm long, glabrous on both surfaces with a few simple trichomes on the margins of the lobes; corolla violet, 1.4-1.7 cm in diameter, lobed 1/2 way to the base, the lobes cupulate at anthesis, densely pubescent abaxially with dendritic trichomes, the flowers apparently nodding at anthesis; stamens with the anthers ca. 2 mm long, 0.5-1.5 m wide, poricidal at the tips, the pores becoming slit-like with age, free portion of the filaments ca. 1 mm long, glabrous, the filament tube absent; ovary glabrous or occasionally with a few scattered dendritic trichomes near the apex; style ca. 6 mm long, more or less densely pubescent with dendritic trichomes near the middle; stigma obscurely bi-lobed.
Fruits
Fruit a globose and slightly pointed apically, purplish-black berry, fleshy with thin pericarp, 6-9 mm in diameter; fruiting pedicels deflexed, woody, ca. 6 mm long, ca. 0.5 mm in diameter at he base.
Seeds
Seeds pale reddish-brown, flattened lenticular, ca. 8 per fruit, ca. 5 mm x 3 mm, the surfaces minutely pitted.
Distribution
Boulder fields and among rocks in moist puna from S Peru to N Bolivia, 3800-4600 m.
Phylogeny
Solanum macbridei is a member of the Solanum nitidum species group of the Dulcamaroid clade (Bohs, 2005).
Commentary
Solanum macbridei is morphologically the most distinctive member of the Solanum nitidum group, if not in the entire genus Solanum. It is distinctive in its campanulate corolla and in its small, coriaceous leaves. Sheets of this species have been identified as members of the Gentianaceae, Ericaceae and as the genus Fabiana (Solanaceae). The pedicel sleeve characteristic of the Solanum nitidum species group is most pronounced in S. macbridei, partly because the inflorescence is completely glabrous and thus the character is more easily visible than in other more pubescent species in the group.
In his original description of Solanum macbridei, Hunziker (1981) speculated that it was closely related to S. albescens (Britton) Bitter (Poecilochroma albescens Britton). Hunziker thought the anthers of both species dehisced by slits rather than pores (the synapomorphy for Solanum), but he was incorrect in the case of S. macbridei, whose anthers are typically solanum-like, dehiscing by terminal pores that are more or less tear-drop shaped. The coriaceous leaves of S. albescens are almost certainly related to its high elevation habitat, as are those of S. macbridei. Solanum albescens may not be a member of the genus Solanum at all (Bohs & Nee, pers. comm.).
References
- Bohs, L. 2005. Major clades in Solanum based on ndhF sequences. Pp. 27-49 in R. C. Keating, V. C. Hollowell, & T. B. Croat (eds.), A festschrift for William G. D’Arcy: the legacy of a taxonomist. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden, Vol. 104. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.Bohs, L. 2005. Major clades in Solanum based on ndhF sequences. Pp. 27-49 in R. C. Keating, V. C. Hollowell, & T. B. Croat (eds.), A festschrift for William G. D’Arcy: the legacy of a taxonomist. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden, Vol. 104. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.
- Hunziker, A.T. 1981. Estudios sobre Solanaceae. XVI. Una nueva especie de Solanum (subg. Solanum) de Perú y Bolivia. Lorentzia 4: 17-20.Hunziker, A.T. 1981. Estudios sobre Solanaceae. XVI. Una nueva especie de Solanum (subg. Solanum) de Perú y Bolivia. Lorentzia 4: 17-20.
- Knapp, S. 1989. A revision of the Solanum nitidum species group (section Holophylla pro parte: Solanaceae). Bull. Br. Mus. Nat. Hist. (Bot.) 19: 63-112.Knapp, S. 1989. A revision of the Solanum nitidum species group (section Holophylla pro parte: Solanaceae). Bull. Br. Mus. Nat. Hist. (Bot.) 19: 63-112.
