Capsicum hunzikerianum
| Capsicum hunzikerianum | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Capsicum hunzikerianum | ||||||||||||
| Barboza & Bianch. |
In 2005, a new wild species of the paprika genus ( Capsicum ) was described under the name Capsicum hunzikerianum . The species is characterized primarily by the largest plants as well as the largest flowers within the genus. It is closely related to the wild species C. cornutum .
description
Habit and leaves
The plants of the species Capsicum hunzikerianum are 1–3 meter tall, sparsely branched shrubs with a hollow stem axis . The entire plant is hairless. The leaves in pairs, but individually in the branch branches, are 3 to 4 times longer than wide, ovoid to elliptical. They are leathery and partly discolored, wedge-shaped and irregular at the base, pointed towards the front, the edge slightly rolled up. The leaves are between (7.5) 9.5 and 20 (25) cm long and between 2.5 and 7 (8) cm wide. The leaf stalks are (0.5) 0.8 to 2 (3.5) cm in length.
blossom
(1) 2 to 3 (4) flowers develop in the branch branches . The flower stalks are between (1.3) 2 and 3.8 (4.8) cm long and point upwards, while they also curve slightly downwards during flowering. Then there is the (3.5) 5.5 to 6.5 mm large calyx, on which there are usually five, but also up to ten conspicuous calyx teeth with a length of 2.5-4.5 (5). The opened flower petals are lobed in half, arranged in a star shape and form a 10 to 14 (16) mm long flowering with a diameter of (8) from 10 to 18 mm. On the outside, the petals have a pure white color; inside, in the area of the lobes, there is a greenish area with a striped purple point. The interior of the 6 to 8 mm long and (3) 3.5 to 5 (6) mm wide, almost triangular flower tube is greenish-yellow. The stamens are (1.5) 2 to 3 (3.5) mm long, the yellowish stamens (2) 2.5 to 3 mm long. The spherical ovary is about 1 to 1.5 mm high, the style thickened at the end and 5 to 6 mm long. The scar appears to be lobed in two.
Fruit and seeds
From the pollinated flowers round, slightly compressed, sharp berries develop , which are initially green, turn yellowish-green when ripe and easily fall off the plant. The size is (4) 6-8 (6.5) mm × (6) 7-9 (10) mm. The fruit contains ten to twenty brownish to blackish seeds with a size of (2) 2.5 × 2.5 to 3 mm and a thick seed coat .
Differences from other species
With a size of up to three meters and the flowers up to 1.6 cm long, the species C. hunzikerianum is one of the largest growing species of the genus, which also has the largest flowers. Adaptation to swampy locations is also very unusual for the genus. The appearance of the plants is similar to that of the species C. cornutum , which suggests a close connection between the species. The main differences are in the flower size, the locations and the complete lack of hairs in C. hunzikerianum .
In contrast to all domesticated Capsicum species, C. hunzikerianum has 13 instead of 12 pairs of chromosomes . Investigations on wild and semi-wild Brazilian Capsicum species showed that the number of species with 13 chromosome pairs is significantly higher than initially assumed. These results challenged some of the previously unproven assumptions about the evolutionary history of the Capsicum genus . For example, it has been suggested that the 13th chromosome pair were created by mechanisms such as centric fission . However, since no features that indicate centric fission have been found on the remaining 12 “original” chromosome pairs, this theory can be considered incorrect. Rather, it now turns out to be more likely that the group of species with 13 pairs of chromosomes is the original one and that one pair of chromosomes has been lost in an as yet unexplained manner during the increasing spread to the north. Species with only 12 pairs of chromosomes therefore changed their occurrence, for example through the formation of predominantly red fruits, which are much more hot. Since the climatic conditions remained constant in the original distribution area of southeastern Brazil, the species with 13 chromosome pairs were able to survive there, while further north, the species with 12 chromosome pairs prevailed.
etymology
The name of the species was given in honor of the biologist Armando T. Hunziker , who made a major contribution to the research of the genus Capsicum and on whose work the publication of Barboza and Bianchetti is based.
Occurrence
The species C. hunzikerianum has so far only been found near the parishes of Salesópolis and Biritiba-Mirim . It is the only known species of the Capsicum genus that grows in the humid, shady and swampy areas of the Mata Atlântica .
literature
- GE Barboza and LDB Bianchetti: Three New Species of Capsicum (Solanaceae) and a Key to the Wild Species from Brazil . In: Systematic Botany , 30 (4), The American Society of Plant Taxonomists, Tallahassee, USA 2005, pp. 863-871.
- MT Pozzobon, MT Schifino-Wittmann, LDB Bianchetti: Chromosome numbers in wild and semidomesticated Brazilian Capsicum L. (Solanaceae) species: do x = 12 and x = 13 represent two evolutionary lines? In: Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society . June 2006, 151 (2), pp. 259-269.