Solanum ochrophyllum Van Heurck & Müll.Arg.

  • Authority

    Knapp, Sandra D. 2002. section (Solanaceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 84: 1-404. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Solanaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Solanum ochrophyllum Van Heurck & Müll.Arg.

  • Type

    Type. Bolivia. La Paz: Prov. Larecaja, vie. Sorata, 9500-11000 m, Mandón 416 (lectotype, G [Morton neg. 8538], here designated; isolectotypes, BM, F, G [F neg. 23138], G-DC, GH, K, MPU, NY, P [Morton neg. 8273]). Not in AWH fide von Steenis.

  • Description

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    Species Description - Shrubs or small trees, 2-5 m tall; young stems and leaves densely pubescent with felt-like arachnoid trichomes, these drying pale golden brown; bark of older stems glabrate, grayish, the stems lightly fourangled. Sympodial units difoliate or trifoliate, not geminate. Leaves elliptic, widest at the middle, strongly bicolored, glabrous and shiny adaxially, occasionally with a few arachnoid trichomes along the main veins, the abaxial lamina completely covered with densely matted arachnoid trichomes drying pale golden brown, with 10-16 pairs of main lateral veins, impressed adaxially, glabrous, prominent and yellowish abaxially, 4-15 cm long, 1.5-7 cm wide, the apex acute, the base acute, somewhat decurrent onto the petiole; petiole 0.5-1.5 cm long. Inflorescences opposite the leaves or internodal, simple, 0.5-1.5 cm long, 5-10-flowered, densely pubescent with matted arachnoid trichomes; pedicel scars closely spaced, not overlapping. Buds globose, becoming ellipsoid just before anthesis, the corolla strongly exserted from the calyx tube. Pedicels at anthesis rather thick and apparently fleshy, deflexed, 1.3-1.6 cm long, ca. 1 mm diam. at the base, 2-3 mm diam. at the apex, densely pubescent with arachnoid trichomes like the rest of the inflorescence. Flowers with the calyx tube conical, 2-3 mm long, the lobes broadly deltate with thickened white margins, 1-2 mm long, densely to sparsely pubescent with arachnoid trichomes; corolla white or pale blue (fide Solomon 5973), fleshy, 1.2-2 cm diam., lobed nearly to the base, the lobes planar at anthesis, abaxial surfaces of lobes sparsely pubescent with arachnoid trichomes, the margins and tips densely papillose; anthers 3-5 mm long, 1-2 mm wide, poricidal at the tips, the pores teardrop shaped; free portion of the filaments ca. 0.5 mm long, the filament tube ca. 0.5 mm long, glabrous; ovary glabrous; style 5-8 mm long, glabrous; stigma clavate, bilobed, the surface minutely papillose. Fruit an apically pointed, globose, green berry, 1-1.5 cm diam.; fruiting pedicels glabrous, woody and deflexed, 1.5-3.5 cm long, ca. 1.5 mm diam. at the base, 3-5 mm diam. at the apex. Seeds tan or reddish-brown, ovoid-reniform, 4-4.5 mm long, 3-3.5 mm wide, the surfaces minutely pitted. Chromosome number not known.

  • Discussion

    Solanum ochrophyllum is one of the most distinctive species of sect. Geminata with its bicolored leaves and closely and densely matted pubescence on the abaxial leaf surfaces. Plants are quite similar to those of S. matureca Ivans, but the density of trichomes on the lower leaf surfaces and the non-geminate sympodia are clear differentiating features.

    Two specimens were cited by Van Heurck & Müller in the protologue, one from Van Heurck’s own herbarium, now at AWH, and the other from G. No specimen of this number or species exists at AWH (van Steenis, in litt.), so the G-DC sheet becomes the logical choice for a lectotype.

  • Distribution

    Near tree line in the Andes of S Peru and N Bolivia, from 3000-3500 m.

    Peru South America| Cusco Peru South America| Bolivia South America| Cochabamba Bolivia South America| La Paz Bolivia South America|