You selected: Solanum neorickii Amer. J. Bot. 80: 683. 1993. Status: Accepted.
Solanum neorickii , Amer. J. Bot. 80: 683. 1993. Type: Based on Lycopersicon parviflorum C.M. Rick, Kesicki, Fobes & Holle.
Synonyms
Lycopersicon parviflorum , Theoret. App. Genetics 47: 57. 1976 Type: Peru. Huánuco: Prov. Dos de Mayo, Chavinillo, 2100 m, 18 Mar 1951, Ochoa 1071 (holotype, herb. Ochoa n.v.). Type number corrected from Ochoa 1017 in Rick et al. 1976, see below.
2007. Description based on taxon concept by Peralta, I.E., S. Knapp & D.M. Spooner in Peralta, I.E., S. Knapp & D.M. Spooner In press . Systematic Botany Monographs.
Habit
Trailing perennial herbs, somewhat woody at the base, to 2 m long. Stems 2-2.5 (-5) mm in diameter, dark green, densely soft velvety pubescent with mostly eglandular trichomes, the more abundant trichomes 1-2-celled, eglandular, white, uniseriate 0.3-0.5 mm long from a unicellular base, , occasionally interspersed with sparse glandular trichomes with unicellular or multicellular heads, northern populations with scattered robust patent uniseriate trichomes to 1 mm long with multicellular bases.
Sympodial structure
Sympodial units 2-foliate; internodes (1-) 2-4.5 cm long.
Leaves
Leaves interrupted imparipinnate, (3-) 5-8 cm long, (1.5-) 3-5 cm wide, dark green to pale green beneath, adaxially sparsely pubescent with soft eglandular trichomes distributed evenly on the veins and lamina, abaxially densely pubescent with eglandular trichomes, the abaxial surface paler due to velvety pubescence; primary leaflets 2-4 pairs, the basal pair markedly smaller, narrowly elliptic to elliptic, the base acute to truncate, usually decurrent basicopically, the margins crenate-serrate, the crenations deeper in the basal 1/3, occasionally the distal half of the leaflet margin entire, the apex acute to acuminate; terminal leaflet usually larger than the laterals (1-) 2.5-3.5 cm long, (0.4-) 1-2 cm wide, usually long-acuminate, the petiolule 0.4-0.5 cm long, the apex acute; lateral leaflets (0.5-) 1.2-2.5 x (0.2-) 0.7-1.2 cm long, the petiolule 0.2-0.5 cm long, or absent and the leaflets sessile; secondary leaflets absent; tertiary leaflets absent; interjected leaflets 0-4, 0.3-1 cm long, 0.3-0.5 cm wide, orbicular or elliptic, the petiolule ca. 0.1 cm long; petiole 0.5-1.5 cm long; pseudostipules present but not developed at all nodes.
Inflorescences
Inflorescences (2-) 5-14 cm long, simple, with 5-10 (-12) flowers, sometimes with 1-2 bracts 0.1-0.5 cm long, 0.1-0.5 cm wide, peduncle 1-4 cm long, pubescent like the stems, but with scattered glandular trichomes with multicellular heads and a few stout patent uniseriate 2-3-celled trichomes ca. 2 mm long, arising from multicellular bases along the axis. Pedicels 0.6-1 cm long, articulated in the distal half. Buds 0.4-0.5 cm long, 0.3-0.35 cm wide, broadly conical, with the corolla more than halfway exserted from the calyx just before anthesis.
Flowers
Flowers with the calyx tube ca. 0.1 cm, the lobes 0.25-0.3 cm long, 0.1-0.15 cm wide, lanceolate, densely pubescent with unseriate trichomes like the inflorescence axis; corolla 1-1.2 cm in diameter, pentagonal, golden yellow, the tube (0.1-) 0.2-0.3 cm long, the lobes 0.3-0.4 cm long, 0.3-0.4 cm wide, strongly reflexed at anthesis, the margins irregularly undulate on live plants; staminal column 0.4-0.6 cm long, straight, the filaments ca. 0.5 mm long, the anthers 0.25-0.3 cm long, the sterile apical appendage 0.1-0.15 cm long; ovary globose, glabrous; style 0.4-0.45 cm long, ca. 0.5 mm in diameter, densely pubescent in the proximal 2/3 with long, white uniseriate trichomes, just included in the staminal column or rarely exserted to 0.5 mm; stigma capitate, green.
Fruits
Fruit 1-1.1 cm in diameter, globose, 2-locular, green with a dark green stripe from the apex to the base, sparsely white velvety pubescent when maturing, the trichomes all eglandular to 0.2 mm long, glabrescent when ripe; fruiting pedicels 1-1.5 cm long, straight or somewhat angled at the articulation; calyx lobes in fruit 0.9-1.2 cm long, 0.2-0.3 cm wide, loosely enclosing the berry or often spreading.
Seeds
Seeds 1.7-2.6 mm long, 1.0-1.3 mm wide, 0.4-0.6 mm thick, obovate, pale brown, pubescent with hair-like outgrowths of the lateral testa cell walls, these adpressed and giving a silky appearance to the surface, narrowly winged (ca. 0.2 mm) at the apex and acute at the base.
Chromosome number
n = 12 voucher: LA0247 ()
Distribution
Southern Peru (Department of Apurímac) to southern Ecuador (Department of Azuay) in dry inter-Andean valleys from 1950-3000 m. Often found trailing over rocky banks and roadsides.
Phenology
Solanum neorickii flowers and fruits sporadically throughout the year.
Phylogeny
Solanum neorickii is a member of the Potato clade (sensu Weese & Bohs, 2007); within the tomatoes and wild relatives it is a member of the “Arcanum group” and is a member of section Lycopersicon.
Commentary
Solanum neorickii is sister to S. chmielewskii and, in the absence of flowers, difficult to distinguish from it (see above and the key for distinguishing features). In general S. neorickii has smaller inflorescences and is a somewhat less robust plant than S. chmielewskii. Solanum neorickii is autogamous and self-pollinating, which perhaps accounts for its much broader distribution compared to S. chmielewskii (throughout the inter-Andean valleys from southern Ecuador to southern Peru as opposed to southern Peru and adjacent northern Bolivia). Rick et al. (1976) suggested that S. neorickii was an example of “speciation via the simple device of autogamy”, although they did not observe pollination or reproduction in the wild. The species is remarkably uniform genotypically throughout its range in Peru and all allelic diversity in S. neorickii is also found in S. chmielewskii (Rick et al. 1976).
The location of the type of Solanum neorickii is problematic. Although in the original publication of Lycopersicon parviflorum Rick et al. (1976) designated a specimen Ochoa 1017 as the type of their new species, that collection is actually a grass collected at “km 40 on the road Carhuamayo-Paucartambo” in the Department of Pasco (C. Ochoa in litt. 25 April 2003). Ochoa’s collection (Ochoa 1071) from “km 18 of Huánuco-Chavinillo road, department of Huánuco” (fide C. Ochoa in litt. 25 April 2003), is the type of L. parviflorum; this correct number is maintained in the TGRC database under LA247. The whereabouts of the type specimen of this species is still unclear; Rick et al. (1976) cites it location as herb. Ochoa, while Ochoa (C. Ochoa, in litt. 25 April 2003) suggests it is either at F, US or at UC Davis. Dr. Ochoa’s personal herbarium has been widely dispersed (mostly at CUZ), and we were unable to find a specimen of either Ochoa 1071 or Ochoa 1017. Searches at F and US, other potential herbaria to which Ochoa’s personal herbarium was sent were similarly fruitless. Many of Ochoa’s potato specimens have been donated to CUZ, but we have not had the opportunity to search there for this specimen. If the original specimen cannot be found at CUZ, a neotype should be designated from material grown from original seed of Ochoa 1071 (LA247).
The unpublished name “Lycopersicon minutum” was written on herbarium sheets by Holle and occasionally by Rick, and was “applied to the whole complex” (Rick et al. 1976), i.e. Solanum chmielewskii and S. neorickii as recognized here. The name has no nomenclatural standing, as it was “tentatively labeled” by the authors and was not intended as a new name (Rick et al. 1976).
References
- Rick, C.M., E. Kesicki, J.F. Fobes, & M. Holle 1976. Genetic and biosystematic studies on two new sibling species of Lycopersicon from Interandean Perú. Theor. Appl. Genet. 47: 55-68.Rick, C.M., E. Kesicki, J.F. Fobes, & M. Holle 1976. Genetic and biosystematic studies on two new sibling species of Lycopersicon from Interandean Perú. Theor. Appl. Genet. 47: 55-68.
