Lulo

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Lulo
Lulo plant, 7 months old

Lulo plant, 7 months old

Systematics
Euasterids I
Order : Nightshade (Solanales)
Family : Nightshade family (Solanaceae)
Genre : Nightshade ( solanum )
Subgenus : Leptostemonum
Type : Lulo
Scientific name
Solanum quitoense
Lam.
Lulo plant from below

The Lulo ( Solanum quitoense ) or Quitorange , also called Naranjilla in Spanish , is a South American cultivated plant of the nightshade genus ( Solanum ) in the nightshade family . Lulo is the name derived from Quechua and is widespread especially in Colombia (sometimes also: "Lulu"), while in Ecuador the name Naranjilla ( small orange ; from naranja , German orange / orange ) is used. The scientific epithet quitoense is from Quito , the capital of Ecuador.

description

Vegetative characteristics

Lulo plants are upright or irregularly branched, herbaceous to woody, perennial shrubs that can reach a height of 1 to 3 m. The stem axis is densely hairy, the often violet trichomes are star-shaped with six to nine rays and can be almost sessile or have multicellular stalks. The longest trichomes reach 1 to 4 mm long, the sideways directed rays are 0.6 to 1.5 mm long, the upward directed central ray is just as long or a little shorter. There are reinforced and unreinforced forms of the species, if there is reinforcement, it consists of 1 to 3 (rarely up to 5) mm long spines , which are 0.5 to 1.5 mm wide at the base and are usually somewhat curved.

The simple, alternate and soft leaves are about as long as they are wide. The length can vary between 13 and 50 cm and the width between 11 and 40 cm. The leaf blade is elliptical to ovate, relatively thin and tomentose. From the partly reddish main arteries there are about five or six secondary arteries on each side. The leaf base is blunt or weakly heart-shaped, the edge is whole and covered with three to seven triangular lobes or coarse teeth, the tips of the lobes and teeth are rounded to pointed and form the ends of the secondary veins. The arches, bays between the lobes have entire margins or have one or two teeth. The tip of the leaf is rounded to pointed. The hairy and reinforced, partly reddish leaf stalks, similar to the stem axis, are 5 to 15 cm long, typically between 1/4 to 1/2 the length of the leaf blades. The hair on the top of the leaf consists of sessile, star-shaped trichomes, the majority consists of a 1 to 2 mm long central ray and four to six side rays only 0.1 to 0.4 mm short. In addition, there are also smaller trichomes, whose side and central rays can be 0.1 to 0.3 mm long. The underside of the leaf is densely covered with interwoven, sessile and stalked trichomes. Especially along the main veins the hair is colored purple. The leaves can be unarmed or studded with spines along the main and secondary veins.

Inflorescences and flowers

  • Hermaphrodite lulo flower with a long stylus

  • Male flower with a short style

  • Ripening lulos

  • Spreading edge with trichomes on a leaf of Solanum quitoense

  • Lulo fruits

  • Lulo fruits in the supermarket ( Florencia , Colombia)

Solanum quitoense is Andromonöz , so there are male and hermaphrodite flowers on an individual. Also there is a Distylie before because the hermaphrodite flowers long stylus and have the functional male that produce no fruit, short. The male flowers also is ovary slightly smaller.

The unbranched, axillary and mixed, mostly bundled inflorescences are often opposite the leaves and consist of up to 10–24 flowers . The inflorescences can also have a short stalk and be doldy . The inflorescence axis and the flower stalks are densely covered with star-shaped trichomes, they can be unreinforced or armed with spikes. The flower stalks are 5 to 15 mm long and do not lengthen when the fruit is ripe. They are close together, usually 2 to 3 mm apart. The base of the flower stalks is widened. In the outer flowers of an inflorescence, only the male flower parts are often fertile. The flower buds are dense, woolly and hairy purple.

The fragrant flowers are five-fold with a double flower envelope. The calyx is wide, bell-shaped and 14 to 20 mm long, of which the calyx tube is 5 to 8 mm long. The width of the calyx is 8 to 13 mm, the ovate to broadly ovate calyx tips are 7 to 13 mm long and 5 to 8 mm long. They are often white and similar to the petals. The outside is hairy woolly, whitish to purple. The calyx is slightly enlarged on the fruit, but does not enclose the fruit. The white, star-shaped, radially symmetrical crown has a diameter of 3 to 5 (rarely up to 7) cm and is 20 to 25 mm long. The corolla tube is 4 to 6 mm long. The corolla lobes have a size of 10 to 15 × 5 to 7 mm, they are lanceolate, expansive, often pointed and densely covered on the outside with whitish to purple and star-shaped trichomes, on the inside they are bald or only slightly hairy. The stamens have only short, maximum 1 mm long stamens , the large, yellow anthers are 7 to 15 mm long and 2 to 3.5 mm wide at the base. They are eilanzettlich and the tips are more or less inclined or protruding. They open outwards through narrow pores at the tips. The upper continuous, four-chambered ovary is densely coated, the round, straight and bare stylus is either longer (1 cm) than the stamens or shorter (0.5 cm), the scar is capitate.

The purple, purple color of the hair coat is affected by temperature fluctuations. The flowers do not produce any nectar, but the pollen contains protein.

Fruits and seeds

Each inflorescence produces between one and four spherical, 3.5 to 7 cm large, multi-seeded berries with a permanent calyx that are orange when ripe. At first the fruits are densely covered with yellow-brownish and bristly, piercing and star-shaped, sessile trichomes, the central ray of which can be 3.5 to 4.5 mm long and the five to 15 side rays are about 0.2 mm long. Most of the hair, however, is lost until the fruit ripens, the rest is removed afterwards. The slightly rough, blackish and bare fruits, with a slightly rubbery, leathery skin, contain 4 compartments separated by membranous partitions, which are filled with translucent, somewhat slimy and yellowish-green, very juicy, sour, aromatic jelly (placenta tissue). The pericarp (pulp) is about 5–10 mm thick.

The fruits contain a large number (up to more than 1000) of yellowish or slightly brownish, fine-grained and flat seeds . These are egg-shaped and have a size of 2.5 to 4 mm.

Chromosome number

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 24.

distribution

The Lulo is grown in Ecuador , Peru and Colombia between about 1,000 and 2,400 m altitude in the Andes . In Panama , Costa Rica and Guatemala, the plant was introduced later. A wild form is not known.

use

In Colombia and Ecuador, the pulp of the lulo is diluted with milk or water and processed into juice with sugar or used in other beverages. It is common practice in Colombia to process the fresh fruit into juice yourself, usually with a kitchen mixer. Selling finished juice, as is the case in Europe, is unusual. Indigenous peoples such as the Waorani from Ecuador use the fruit as a shampoo.

There is hardly any demand in Europe, as the fruit and its use are unknown to most people. Occasionally, Lulomark is found in multivitamin juices . That is why it is hardly marketed in this country. In Central Europe, however, the lulo is occasionally grown as an ornamental plant under different names.

literature

Web links

Commons : Lulo ( Solanum quitoense )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ J. Messinger: Potential of the lulo (Solanum quitoense) as new tropical fruit in Germany: Consumer acceptance and greenhouse cropping. Dissertation, Univ. Bayreuth, 2019, urn : nbn: de: bvb: 703-epub-4229-8 , doi: 10.15495 / EPub_UBT_00004229 , (PDF; 6 MB).
  2. ↑ Thomas W. Baumann, B. Häsler: Tropical fruit. villacoffea, 2007, ISBN 978-3-9523293-2-0 , p. 175 f.
  3. ↑ Solanum quitoense at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
  4. ↑ Heiko Feser: The Huaorani on the way into the new millennium. Ethnological Studies Vol. 35, Institute for Ethnology of the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, published by LIT Verlag, Münster, 2000, ISBN 978-3-8258-5215-3 , p. 66.