Solanum restingae
Citation:
Bull. Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.) Bot. 19: 109. 1989.
Type:
Brazil. Bahia: Mun. Valença, km 11 of road from Valença to Povado de Guaibim (litoral), 13 Aug 1980, Hage, de Carvalho & Mattos Silva 389 (holotype, CEPEC; isotype, F).
Last edited by:
Knapp, S.
Written by:
Knapp, S.
Habit:
Shrubs, 2-2.5 m tall; young stems glabrous, the young leaves sparsely red-papillose; older stems yellowish-brown and shiny, strongly winged from the decurrent leaf bases and from the inflorescence bases.
Sympodial structure:
Sympodial units difoliate, geminate.
Leaves:
Leaves elliptic-obovate, widest at the middle or just above, glabrous and shiny adaxially, glabrous abaxially, the margins revolute; major leaves 11-15.5 x 3.5-7 cm, with 8-9 pairs of main lateral veins, these yellowish beneath, the apex acute, the base attenuate, decurrent onto the stem; petiole 0.5-1.5 cm long; minor leaves differing from the majors only in size, 5-7 x 2-3.8 cm, the apex acute, the base attenuate; petiole 0.4-1 cm long.
Inflorescences:
Inflorescences usually internodal, occasionally opposite the leaves, simple, completely glabrous, 2-5 mm long, with 3-5 flowers; pedicel scars closely spaced, clustered near the tip of the inflorescence. Buds globose, later long-ellipsoid, the corolla strongly exserted from the calyx tube, the tips of the lobes cucullate. Pedicels at anthesis erect or slightly deflexed, 0.9-1 cm long, filiform, tapering from the base of the calyx tube to a base 0.4 mm in diam.
Flowers:
Flowers with the calyx tube an open cup, 1.5-2 mm long, the lobes glabrous, minute, if present broadly deltate, 0-0.5 mm long; corolla white, perhaps somewhat fleshy, 1-1.5 cm in diam., lobed nearly to the base, the lobes planar at anthesis, the tips of the lobes cucullate and minutely papillose; anthers 3-3.5 x ca. 1 mm, poricidal at the tips, the pores tear-drop shaped; free portion of the filaments ca. 0.2 mm long, the filament tube 0.1-0.2 mm long; ovary glabrous; style erect, 5-6 mm long; stigma clavate, the surface minutely papillose.
Fruits:
Fruit a globose, green berry, 0.8-1 cm in diam.; fruiting pedicels woody, deflexed, 1-1.2 cm long, 1-1.5 mm in diam. at the base.
Seeds:
Seeds pale tan, flattened-reniform, with incrassate margins, 3-3.5 x 2-2.5 mm, the surfaces minutely pitted.
Chromosome number:
Not known
Distribution:
Only known from the restinga arborea forest on sandy soils near the coast in southern Bahia.
Phylogeny:
Solanum restingae is a member of the Solanum nudum species group (Knapp, 2002) in the Geminata clade (Bohs, 2005).
References:
Plowman, T. 1987. Ten new species of Erythroxylum (Erythroxylaceae) from Bahia, Brazil.
Fieldiana, Bot. n.s. 19: 1-41.
Knapp, S. 2002. Solanum section Geminata (G. Don) Walpers (Solanaceae).
Flora Neotropica 84: 1-405.
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.
Solanum restingae is a distinctive species with its strongly winged stems, completely glabrous mature foliage, indistinct calyx lobes, and cucullate corolla lobe apices. Within the S. nudum species group it is most similar and probably most closely related to S. daphnophyllum of eastern Bolivia. Solanum restingae differs from S. daphnophyllum in its difoliate sympodial units, larger flowers with strongly hooded corolla lobes and strongly winged stems. Such strongly hooded corolla lobe apices are also found in S. cucullatum, an unrelated species of section Geminata (S. robustifrons species group) from premontane forests in western Ecuador.
The habitat of Solanum restingae is disturbed arboreal restinga on white sand near sea level. The species is apparently of extremely restricted distribution, and has only been collected in a tiny area off the Valença-Guaibim road and on the Isla de Tinharé. Large areas of the restingas of Bahia remain unexplored, however, so more collections may show it to be of somewhat wider distribution. Many interesting species have been collected from the arboreal or shrubby restingas on white sand soils in Bahia (de Carvalho, pers. comm.; Plowman, 1987).