Solanum eitenii
Solanum eitenii is endemic to the northeastern Brazil state of Maranhão at ca. 200 m. The limited distributional range and the lack of recent collections suggest that this species is rare and probably endangered. The cerrado biome is the second largest Brazilian phytogeographic province, originally occupying 23% of Brazil’s land area (Ratter et al. 1997). Cerrado vegetation presents a wide physiognomic range, from grasslands to woodlands, but is mostly tropical savanna.
Solanum eitenii is a member of the Leptostemonum clade (sensu Weese & Bohs, 2007; Levin et al., 2006) and has been treated as a member of section Erythrotrichum subsect. Rhytidoandrum (with inflorescences in branched cymes and andromonoecious plants with predominanatly hermaphroditic flowers and a few staminate flowers at the tips of the inflorescences) by Agra (2008). Its relationships have not yet been assessed with molecular datasets.
Ratter, J.A., J.F. Ribeiro & S. Bridgewater 1997. The Brazilian cerrado vegetation and threats to its biodiversity.
Annals of Botany 80: 223–230.
Levin, R.A., N.R. Myers, & L. Bohs 2006. Phylogenetic relationships among the "spiny" solanums (Solanum subgenus Leptostemonum).
Amer. J. Bot. 93: 157-169.
Weese, T.L. & L. Bohs 2007. A Three-Gene Phylogeny of the Genus Solanum (Solanaceae)
Syst. Bot. 32(2): 445-463.
Agra, M.F. 2008. Four New Species of Solanum section Erythrotrichum (Solanaceae) from Brazil and Peru, and a Key to the Species of the Section.
Systematic Botany 33(3): 556-565.
Solanum eitenii shows a set of unique morphological characters. The 4- to many-forked inflorescences, the attenuate leaf blades, and the indument with porrect-stellate trichomes with a many-celled central ray are morphological similarities that suggest a probable relationship with S. decompositiflorum. and S. rhytidoandrum. Solanum eitenii, however, is readily distinguished from these two: in S. decompositiflorum the leaves are oval to oval-elliptic; the rachis of the inflorescence is shorter; the calyx has a longer tube with the sepals united near the apex and the lobes very short and cuspidate and without viscid indument; in S. rhytidoandrum the leaves are elliptic, the calyx lobes are linear-elliptic and acute to acuminate at the apex with tomentose external indument.
The specific epithet honors George Eiten, who made the type collection, in recognition of his study of Brazilian vegetation, particularly of the cerrado biome.