Solanum barbeyanum
Eastern Andes to lowland Amazonia (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil); clearings, shaded thickets, riparian forests, and disturbed areas; premontane to montane forests; 200-2000 m.
Solanum barbeyanum belongs to a group of species that bear prickles, but lack stellate hairs. These have been placed in section Nemorense (Child, 1983) of subgen. Leptostemonum (Whalen, 1984), but molecular phylogenetic analyses of Bohs (2005) and Levin et al. (2006) indicate that this group may not belong with the rest of the spiny Solanums in subg. Leptostemonum. The affinities of S. barbeyanum within sect. Nemorense have not been investigated using molecular data.
Child, A. 1983. Taxonomic studies in Solanum L. 1. Section Nemorense Child, sectio nova.
Feddes Repert. 94: 35-42.
Whalen, M.D. 1984. Conspectus of species groups in Solanum subgenus Leptostemonum.
Gentes Herbarum 12 (4): 179-282.
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.
Levin, R.A., N.R. Myers, & L. Bohs 2006. Phylogenetic relationships among the "spiny" solanums (Solanum subgenus Leptostemonum).
Amer. J. Bot. 93: 157-169.
The habit, flowers, and fruits of Solanum nemorense and S. barbeyanum are similar. The plants of Solanum barbeyanum are always have some compound leaves in contrast to the exclusively simple leaves of S. nemorense. Although the leaves of S. nemorense are commonly lobed, they are not confluent or compound as found in S. barbeyanum.