Capsicum lanceolatum
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Capsicum lanceolatum , drawing of a branch |
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| ( Greenm. ) CVMorton & Standl. |
Capsicum lanceolatum is a species of paprika ( Capsicum ) in the nightshade family(Solanaceae). The species has its original range in Guatemala and in the neighboring countries Mexico and Honduras . At present only a single natural occurrence of the species is known; all other previously known occurrences were destroyed by the conversion of the sites into agricultural land.
description
Vegetative characteristics
Like almost all members of the genus, Capsicum lanceolatum is a bushy plant with mostly slender, upright growth and a height of 1 to 5 m. Capsicum lanceolatum differs from all other species of the genus primarily in the combination of leaf shape and position. The leaves usually appear in pairs, both leaves roughly point in the same direction, but have very different sizes and shapes. While there are large, elongated leaves with a length of 6 to 11 cm and a width of 1.5 to 3 mm, there are small, almost round leaves with a size of 0.5 to 2 × 0.8 to 1.5 cm up. Both leaf types are slightly hairy.
blossoms
The flowering period extends from May to December. The flowers stand individually, rarely in pairs, in the axils on 1.5 to 3 cm long, slender flower stalks that extend to 3 to 5 cm when the fruit is ripe. The strongly ribbed calyx is 1.3 to 2 mm long during flowering and barely elongates afterwards. On the edge of the calyx there are 2 to 5 mm long calyx teeth, which lengthen to 4 to 5.5 mm as the fruit ripens. The petals of the five-fold flowers, which are fused together for well over half the length, are yellowish-white or two-tone white and red-violet, slightly hairy at the tips. The stamens are about 2.5 mm long, the anthers have a length of 1.3 to 1.5 mm. The stylus is 4.5 to 5 mm long.
Fruits and seeds
As with most wild species of the genus, the very small, round berries with a diameter of 7 to 10 mm are orange-red, filled with pulp and not hot. The seeds are whitish or black and 2 to 2.5 mm in size. The plant is self-compatible.
Other specifications
Like some other wild Brazilian species, C. lanceolatum has 13 pairs of chromosomes . Typical characteristics of the species with this number of chromosomes are the preference for moist locations and the mostly yellowish-green, not sharp, small fruits. The orange-red fruits distinguish C. lanceolatum from other, related species.
distribution and habitat
As a location of C. lanceolatum are mountain rain forests and cloud forests of Guatemala stated in an altitudes of 1200 to 1800 meters, the environment is as moist and described hazy. Within the group with 13 chromosome pairs, C. lanceolatum belongs to the species with the northernmost distribution area; the other species are mainly found in southeastern Brazil. The records of scientist Paul C. Standley's Guatemala expedition from 1938 to 1939 provide the most complete description of C. lanceolatum as well as the locations where plants of the species were found. Herbarium specimens collected during this expedition are now held by the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Another description of the species was made in 1974 with the collaboration of Paul C. Standley.
Based on the exact records of the expedition from 1938 to 1939, another expedition to Guatemala was organized in 1991 under Paul W. Bosland, in which specimens of the species were to be collected for more extensive research. At this time there were no known live plants of the species in the collections available for research. All of the sites described by Standley were visited, but were converted to agricultural land or covered by secondary forests that emerged after use. A resettlement of C. lanceolatum could not be determined when the sites were examined.
However, a new, previously unknown location was discovered. In the 1133 hectare Biotopo el Quetzal , a protective biotope for the Quetzal bird ( Pharomachrus mocinno ), plants were discovered that were classified as C. lanceolatum . Although they differ in some characteristics from the plants described by Standley, such a dispersion of characteristics can also be observed in other species of the genus Capsicum . In the original description, for example, the flower color is white, the plants found by Bosland are red, and Standley also specifies the color of the seeds as white, while the plants from the Biotopo el Quetzal have black seeds. All other characteristics coincide with the description of the plant from 1974 and were also found in the herbarium plants in the collection from 1938 to 1939.
Since other species of the Capsicum genus have also specialized in bird distribution, Bosland theorizes that the distribution of C. lanceolatum may be related to the distribution of the quetzal bird. This is supported by the correspondence between the habitats of both living beings and the absence of C. lanceolatum in restored forest areas in which other cloud forest plants have resettled.
In this context, Bosland emphasizes that the conservation of natural habitats for wild species of the Capsicum genus is important, as these wild species could possibly provide genetic material that can provide disease resistance or adaptations to extreme environmental conditions for cultivated peppers.
Systematics
For the position of the species Capsicum lanceolatum within the genus Capsicum , the team around Paul W. Bosland carried out various studies of the chromosome structure and the compatibility with other species of the genus. It was initially established that Capsicum lanceolatum does not have 12 pairs of chromosomes, like most species of the genus, but 13 pairs of chromosomes , like the wild species Capsicum cilatum . A fertilization barrier is suspected between the species with 12 chromosome pairs and those with 13 chromosome pairs. This explains, among other things, why when attempting to cross with other species of the genus either no fertilization occurred or only fruits with empty seed coats or, in one case, with an underdeveloped embryo were formed. However, since a complete investigation of the crossbreeding behavior between the species of the genus Capsicum has not yet been carried out, no precise statement could be made about the developmental relationships. Nor could it be said with certainty at this point in time how the additional chromosome came about. With the knowledge gained in this way, however, it was likely that Capsicum lanceolatum could not be classified in the three known evolution groups around Capsicum annuum , Capsicum baccatum and Capsicum pubescens .
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 was created by mechanisms such as centric fission . However, since no features indicative of centric fission were 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 scientific name of the species ( lanceolatum ) is derived from the leaf shape (lanceolate). The Mayan indigenous word for the plant is “IC”, spoken with a characteristic click in the word. The colloquial names are “Yerba de pajarito” (little bird weed) or “Pajarito del rio” (little bird of the river).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Paul W. Bosland, Max M. Gonzalez: The rediscovery of Capsicum lanceolatum (Solanaceae), and the importance of nature reserves in preserving cryptic biodiversity . In: Biodiversity and Conservation. Springer, Dortrecht 9.2000,10, pp. 1391-1397, print: ISSN 0960-3115 , online: ISSN 1572-9710 .
- ↑ a b c Michael Nee: Flora de Veracruz. Fascículo 49 Solanaceae I , Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones sobre Recursos Bióticos, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, 1986. pp. 27-28.
- ↑ a b Naniku Tong, Paul W. Bosland: Observations on interspecific compatibility and meiotic chromosome behavior of Capsicum buforum and Capsicum lanceolatum . In: Genetic Resources and Crop Evolutions. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht 50.2003.02, pp. 193-199, print: ISSN 0925-9864 , online: ISSN 1573-5109 .
- ↑ a b Marisa Toniolo Pozzobon, Maria Teresa Schifino-Wittmann, Luciano De Bem 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.
- ↑ Nankui Tong, Paul W. Bosland: Meiotic Chromosome Study of Capsicum lanceolatum. Another 13 Chromosome Species. In: Capsicum & Eggplant Newsletter. EUCARPIA - Plant Genetics and Breeding - University of Turin 1997, 16, pp. 42-43, ISSN 1122-5548 , PDF; 31.8 MB ( memento from September 21, 2006 in the Internet Archive ).
