Citation:
in DC., Prodr. 13(1): 32. 1852.
Type:
Peru. Sin. loc., H. Ruiz & J. Pavón 8/90 (holotype, G-8770125 [Correll neg. 793, BM000881944, F-1603088, NY, UC1152267]).
Habit:
Herbs 0.2-1 m tall, erect. Stems 2-8 mm in diameter at base of plant, green to green mottled with purple, unwinged, glabrous; tubers typically moniliform (multiple tubers arranged along the stolon like beads on a necklace).
Sympodial structure:
Sympodial units tri- to plurifoliate, not geminate.
Leaves:
Leaves odd-pinnate, the blades 7.5-15.2 x 6.5-9.2 cm, dark green adaxially and abaxially, chartaceous, glabrous adaxially and abaxially; lateral leaflet pairs 4-7, decreasing slightly in size toward the leaf base but with the second pair of distal lateral leaflets larger than the most distal pair, with the terminal leaflet subequal to the most distal lateral leaflets; most distal lateral leaflets 3.3-4.4 x 1-1.6 cm, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, the apex acute to acuminate, the base typically petiolulate and attenuate to rounded, usually symmetric but sometimes asymmetric with more tissue on the basiscopic side; terminal leaflet 3.9-5 x 1.4-1.6 cm, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, the apex acuminate, the base attenuate; interjected leaflets 0-19, usually sessile, ovate to orbicular; petioles 1-3 cm, glabrous. Pseudostipules 5-9 mm long, glabrous.
Inflorescences:
Inflorescences 5.5-15 cm, terminal with a subtending axillary bud, generally in distal half of the plant, usually forked, with 15-36 flowers, with all flowers apparently perfect, the axes glabrous; peduncle 1.3-8.7 cm long; pedicels 17-42 mm long in flower and fruit, spaced 3-5 mm apart, articulated slightly above the middle.
Flowers:
Flowers homostylous, 5-merous. Calyx 3-7 mm long, the tube 1-3 mm, the lobes 2-3 mm, usually ovate to lanceolate, with linear acumens 1-5 mm long, glabrous. Corolla 2.2-4.2 cm in diameter, pentagonal to rotate, white, the tube 1-2 mm long, the acumens 2-3 mm long, the corolla edges flat, not folded dorsally, glabrous adaxially and abaxially. Stamens with the filaments 1-2 mm long; anthers 4-7 mm long, lanceolate, connivent, yellow, poricidal at the tips, the pores lengthening to slits with age. Ovary glabrous; style 3-10 mm x ca. 1 mm, exceeding stamens by 2-6 mm, straight, glabrous; stigma clavate to capitate.
Fruits:
Fruit a globose berry, 1-1.7 cm in diameter, medium to deep green, sometimes with purple spots when ripe, glabrous.
Seeds:
Seeds from living specimens ovoid and ca. 2 mm long, whitish to greenish in fresh condition and drying brownish, with a thick covering of “hair-like” lateral walls of the testal cells that make the seeds mucilaginous when wet, green-white throughout; testal cells honeycomb-shaped when lateral walls removed by enzyme digestion.
Phenology:
Flowering and fruiting from January to October.
Solanum immite is easy to distinguish morphologically from other wild potato species in Peru with its combination of glabrous, chartaceous leaves, petiolate leaves and leaflets, and acute to acuminate leaflet apices.