Solanum pampaninii
Not known
Somalia to Kenya, commonly collected on the Somalian coast and apparently locally abundant; growing in sand, bushland, dunes or secondary scrub on limestone or coral. 0-300 m elevation.
Solanum pampaninii is on morphological and distributional ground a member of the Old World clade of the spiny solnums (Leptostemonum; Levin et al. 2006); it has not yet been included in phylogenetic analyses, but is likely to be related to the similar Solanum jubae.
Chiovenda, E. 1925. Nuove specie di Solanum Somale. Boll. Soc. Bot. Ital. 1925: 105-107. 1925.
Chiovenda, E. 1929. Solanaceae. In Flora Somala, Volume 1, pp. 237-242. Rome: Sindicato Italiano Arti Grafiche.
Edmonds, J. M. 2012. Solanum spp. 1-25, 46-51, 63-64, 67-72. In: J.M. Edmonds, Solanaceae, Flora of Tropical East Africa. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Friis, I. 2006. Solanaceae. In Flora of Somalia vol. 3, ed. M. Thulin, 206-219. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Levin, R. A., N. R. Myers, and L. Bohs. 2006. Phylogenetic relationships among the “spiny solanums” (Solanum subgenus Leptostemonum, Solanaceae). Amer. J. Bot. 93: 157-169.
Local Names. Somalia: Ardoraad (Ogaden language).
Solanum pampaninii can be distinguished from the sympatric S. jubae and S. melastomoides by its foliaceous ovate or elliptic calyx lobes, as well as its scrambling habit and thin stems. Coastal collections of S. pampaninii with spectacularly large flowers have previously been segregated as S. pampaninii from inland and more pubescent plants with trichomes bearing elongated multicellular midpoints recognized as S. benadirense (Jaeger 1985, Friis 2006, Edmonds 2012). The variability in all these characters is continuous and the species as recognized here is highly plastic.
The foliaceous, ovate to elliptic calyx lobes are the main character distinguishing this undercollected and broadly variable species. Fruiting collections are virtually unknown as the fruiting typically takes place in the dry season. In spite of the large variation in corolla diameter anther size is constant throughout the species. Label data note that the leaves are “fleshy” (Somalia, Bally 9344, K), although this is not obvious on herbarium specimens.
We have here followed current published usage in selecting the name S. pampaninii over the simultaneously published S. benadirense. Edmonds (2012) cited S. benadirense, S. cicatricosum and S. robecchii as dubious names in the synonymy of S. pampaninii. Examination of type material and original descriptions for these names confirms their status as synonyms.
Paoli 72 is selected as the lectotype of Solanum pampaninii as this specimen has the best quality flowering material of the three syntype sheets held at FT: the other two sheets are “hills of Giumbo”, Paoli 166 (FT003015) and “thickets near Mogadishu”, Paoli 91 (FT003014). The Paoli 68 sheet at FT has been chosen as the lectotype of Solanum benadirense due to the existence of a duplicate in another herbarium (K); the second collection cited in the protologue but not chosen is “dunes of Mogadishu”, Paoli 41 (FT002999). The name S. cicatricosum was first validly published by Chiovenda in 1925 as part of an identification key but no references to specimens were published until 1929 (Chiovenda 1929: 239). The sheet Puccioni & Stefanini 578 has been selected as the neotype due to its being composed of superior quality material compared to the other collection cited by Chiovenda (1929: 239), “Garbauen – Durgale”, Puccioni & Stefanini 420 [472] (FT003001).