Two new South American species of Solanum section Crinitum (Solanaceae)

Abstract Two new species of Solanum section Crinitum are described here. Solanum falciforme Farruggia, sp. nov., closely resembles Solanum crinitum and Solanum lycocarpum, but differs by the presence of falcate trichomes on the young growth. It is endemic to the cerrado and adjacent woodlands of Distrito Federal, Bahia, Goiás and Minas Gerais, Brazil. The other species, Solanum pseudosycophanta Farruggia, sp.nov., has close affinities to Solanum sycophanta butdiffers from the latter in having prominent long-stalked stellate hairs along the stem, calyx, petiole and the adaxial surface of the leaf, in contrast to Solanum sycophanta which is glabrous or pubescent with sessile to short-stalked multangulate hairs. This species is narrowly distributed in tropical montane forests of northern Peru and southern Ecuador.


introduction
The economically important genus Solanum L., which includes tomato (S. lycopersicum L.), potato (S. tuberosum L.), and eggplant (S. melongena L.), is currently the focus of an initiative to provide online descriptions and taxonomic information for all Solanum species (the PBI Solanum project; www.solanaceaesource.org). Detailed taxonomic study of Solanum section Crinitum Whalen ex A. Child has revealed undescribed species within the section, two of which are treated below.
Solanum section Crinitum is comprised of large trees and shrubs, 2-30 m tall, with large, 3 to 8.5 cm diameter, purple flowers fading to white in some taxa. The fruits are some of the largest known in the genus, ranging in size from 1 cm up to 15 cm in diameter, and have a swollen to knobby calyx at maturity. The group as circumscribed by Whalen (1984) and Nee (1999) includes about 14 species. One of these, S. mitlense Dunal, is endemic to Mexico, while the rest are restricted to tropical South America, with highest diversity along the eastern slopes of the Andes from Colombia to Bolivia. Description. Shrub or small tree 1-3 (-4) m × ca. 2-5 cm dbh. Trunk with sharp, stout broad-based prickles, the bark grey-brown to reddish-dark brown, smooth to slightly roughened; flowering stems armed with broad-based prickles, very densely pubescent with sessile to short-stalked light tan multangulate-stellate hairs, the apex 0.1-0.3 mm in diameter, the rays 7-10+, moderately to densely pubescent with falcate long-stalked stellate hairs, the stalks ca. 4-6.2 mm, multiseriate, the apex 0.1-0.3 mm in diameter, the rays 5-7. Sympodial units difoliate, geminate. Leaves simple, the blades ca. 19-25 × 7-17 cm or more, ca. 2.5 times as long as wide, lanceolate, coriaceous, slightly discolorous, the fresh and dried leaves light green adaxially, lighter green abaxially, the adaxial surface very densely pubescent when young with stalked stellate hairs, these nearly absent on older plants, the stalks ca. 0.1-0.3 mm, multiseriate at the base, the rays 7-8, the midpoints ca. 0.1 mm, these mixed with abundant short simple glandular hairs beneath the stellate pubescence, the abaxial surface very densely pubescent with golden-tan multiseriate-stalked porrect-stellate hairs, the stalks 0.2-0.4 mm, the rays 7-10, the midpoints absent; major veins 5-6 on either side of midvein, abundantly armed with broad-based prickles and falcate long-stalked stellate hairs; base cordate to oblique; margin entire to deeply repand; apex acute to obtuse; petioles (1-) 3-5 cm, densely pubescent with hairs like those of the young stems. Inflorescences 3-9.5 cm, extraaxillary, unbranched, with 8-15 flowers, the plants strongly andromonoecious, with one to few hermaphroditic flower(s) at the base of the inflorescence and all other flowers functionally staminate, the axes densely stellate-pubescent with hairs like those of the stems, armed or unarmed; peduncle 18-22 mm; rachis 2-8 cm; pedicels 4-10 mm in flower and fruit, densely congested, spaced 1-4 mm apart, articulated at base. Flowers 5-merous. Calyx ca. 2.5 cm long, the tube at anthesis 2-3 mm, the lobes ca. 20 × 2 mm, the apex acute, the abaxial surface densely pubescent with short-stalked to sessile porrect-stellate hairs and falcate long-stalked stellate hairs, armed or unarmed; fruiting calyx tube becoming slightly thickened and accrescent with maturity, the lobes 7-15 × 3-8 mm, slightly reflexed, subtending but not enclosing the fruit. Corolla 3.5-4.5 cm in diameter, 16-23 mm long, stellate to rotate-stellate with abundant interpetalar tissue, lobed for more than half of its length, membranaceous, violet to blue, the tube 6-8.2 mm, the lobes 16-19 × 3.5-4 mm, deltate, moderately pubescent adaxially with sessile to short-stalked multangulate or porrect-stellate hairs, the rays 5-10, the midpoints often pronounced, ca. 0.1-0.2 mm long, densely pubescent abaxially with sessile to short-stalked porrect-stellate and falcate long-stalked stellate hairs. Stamens equal, the filament tube 0-0.1 mm, the free part of the filaments 1.5-1.8 mm, glabrous; anthers ca. 13 × 2.8 mm, tapered, connivent, yellow, the pores directed distally, opening into longitudinal slits with age, the connective stellate-pubescent. Ovary densely pubescent with sessile stellate hairs; style in hermaphroditic flowers 14-15 × 0.2-0.5 mm, cylindrical, curved at apex, glabrous or sparsely pubescent in lower half with sessile stellate or short-stalked unbranched glandular hairs; style in staminate flowers vestigial; stigma capitate, slightly bilobed. Fruit a berry, 5-7.5 cm in diameter, globose, likely green at maturity, powdery pubescent with stellate hairs. Seeds unknown.

Solanum falciforme
Distribution. Endemic to Brazil. Found in cerrado and along roadsides, 380-1300 m in elevation, common in States of Goiás and Distrito Federal, but also occurring in Bahia and Minas Gerais.
Ecology. Flowering specimens were collected in January-December. Fruiting specimens were collected in January, March, June and July.
Etymology. The name is derived from the Latin "falcatus" describing the sickleshaped long hairs characteristic of this species.
Conservation status. According to the IUCN Red List Categories (IUCN 2010), S. falciforme is classified as VU-B1a+biii; A2c (Vulnerable). Populations of this species are located near expanding population centers leading to highly fragmented populations. The extent of occupancy is estimated to be less than 20,000 km 2 . There is also a continuing decline in suitable habitat in these regions due to deforestation and the establishment of new settlements.

Solanum pseudosycophanta
Distribution. Restricted to northern Peru and southern Ecuador in clearings and open places in disturbed, transitional and montane tropical forest, 900-1900 m in elevation.
Ecology. Flowering specimens were collected in May, and October-December. Fruiting specimens were collected in May, and November-December.
Etymology. The name S. pseudosycophanta was chosen because of the similarity of this taxon to S. sycophanta.
Conservation status. According to the IUCN Red List Categories (IUCN 2010), S. pseudosycophanta is classified as VU-B1a+biii; A2c; D1 (Vulnerable). Populations of this species are located near expanding population centers leading to highly fragmented populations. The extent of occupancy is estimated to be less than 20,000 km 2 , less than 10 locations, and there are estimated to be less than 1,000 mature individuals across its range. There is also a continuing decline in suitable habitat in these regions due to deforestation and the establishment of new settlements.
Local names. Discussion. Within Solanum section Crinitum, S. pseudosycophanta most closely resembles S. sycophanta Dunal. The distribution of these taxa overlaps in Peru and Ecuador; however, S. sycophanta is more widespread throughout the Andes, while S. pseudosycophanta is restricted to northern Peru and southern Ecuador. These two species have large (4-8 cm) elliptical to round, glabrous fruits, more or less spiny trunks, and predominantly entire leaves at maturity. Solanum pseudosycophanta differs from S. sycophanta in having prominent long-stalked stellate hairs on the stem, inflorescence, and adaxial surface of the leaf. In S. sycophanta the stems and petioles lack long-stalked stellate hairs, and are glabrous or pubescent with sessile to short-stalked multangulate hairs. The calyx also differs between these two taxa; S. pseudosycophanta has calyx lobes with acute apices that cover most of the corolla in bud, while S. sycophanta has a calyx with shorter truncate calyx lobes that only partially cover the petals in bud. Furthermore, S. pseudosycophanta in fruit has a knobby calyx with thick pointed lobes, whereas S. sycophanta has a smaller rounded calyx without the pointed lobes.