Solanum dulcamaroides
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Flowers of the bitter-sweet nightshade |
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| Solanum dulcamaroides | ||||||||||||
| Poir. |
Solanum dulcamaroides is a plant type from the genus of Solanaceae ( Solanum ). Within the genus it is classified in the Dulcamaroid clade .
description
Vegetative characteristics
Solanum dulcamaroides is a woody climber that often grows to the top of the trees on which it climbs. The stems are sparsely to densely hairy, the trichomes are up to 0.5 millimeters long, tangled, very thin, single-row and unbranched. Occasional forked or branched trichomes can also be found on more hairy specimens. The bark of older plants is yellowish brown, bare and on very large stems also corked.
The sympodial units have several leaves . The leaves are mostly simple, only occasionally (especially on younger stems) pinnate. They are usually 4 to 10, rarely only 2.5 centimeters long and 2 to 8 (rarely only 1) centimeters wide. The leaf blade is thick and fleshy, its shape is elliptical to inverted ovate, the widest point is usually in the lower third. The upper side can be hairless and shiny, with trichomes only being found on the leaf veins, up to even hairiness with trichomes up to 0.5 millimeters long. The hair on the underside is either absent or resembles the upper side, although the trichomes are more dense along the veins. Six to seven pairs of main veins emanate from the leaf axis, which unite to form a distinctly pronounced marginal vein, which is located about 0.5 centimeters from the leaf margin. The base of the leaf blade is pointed to cut off, only occasionally slightly heart-shaped, it is pointed towards the front, often with an elongated tip. The leaf margin is entire, at the base there can be one or two 0.5 to 0.7 cm long partial leaves on up to 0.4 cm long stalks. The petiole is twisted, up to 5 centimeters long, hairless or hairy like the stems and leaves, along the furrow on the underside, the hair is thicker.
Inflorescences and flowers
The inflorescences are at the end or on the side and are usually 7 to 20 centimeters long, but can also be longer, especially for fruiting they lengthen further. They are multi-branched and have up to 80 flowers . They are hairless or hairy similar to the stems with simple, single-row, or occasionally branched trichomes. The peduncle is 1.5 to 5 centimeters long, the individual pedicels 1 to 1.6 centimeters with a diameter of about 1 millimeter at the base and 1 to 1.5 millimeters at the top. They are bent back or nodding when they bloom. At the base they are surrounded by a small shell, which leaves a small cone on the inflorescence when it falls, the distance between the flower stalks is 5 to 10 millimeters.
The flowers are five-fold, all flowers are fully developed. The buds are spherical and are widened on the protruding edges of the petal margins. The crown protrudes from the short calyx tube long before the flowering period . This is 1.5 to 2 millimeters long, flattened to slightly conical, the calyx lobes are shorter than 0.5 millimeters and form almost only weakly developed calyx teeth at the edge of the calyx tube. The hair is absent to sparse consisting of simple trichomes, on the fine calyx lobes it is somewhat denser. The crown usually measures 2.5 to 4, rarely only 2 centimeters in diameter. It is very conspicuous purple to deep purple in color and star-shaped and wheel-shaped. The petals are free for about 2/3 of the length and thus form 0.9 to 1.5 centimeters long and 0.6 to 0.7 centimeters wide corolla lobes that protrude or are slightly cup-shaped towards the flowering. Along the edges and the cape-shaped tips, they are densely papilose , but otherwise hairless. The stamens are fused to form a tube in the lower area of about 0.5 millimeters, the free-standing part is about 1.5 to 3 millimeters long. The anthers are 4.5 to 5 millimeters long, 3 to 3.5 millimeters wide, elliptical to almost spherical and yellow in color. They are loosely inclined together, the sides facing away from the axis are thickened and enlarged so that the individual counters cannot be seen. Pollen is released through pores at the tips of the anthers, which, however, do not expand into slits even with age. The ovary is hairless, the stigma is small, head-shaped and finely papillary.
Fruits and seeds
The fruits are spherical berries with a diameter of 2 to 2.5 centimeters. When ripe they are bright red and juicy, the pericarp is thin, shiny and hairless. The flower stalks have lengthened on the fruit to a length of 1.5 to 2.5 centimeters, at the base they are now 1 to 1.5 millimeters in diameter. Due to the weight of the fruit they hang down, the cup has become a flat plate. About 20 seeds are formed per fruit , these are flat, kidney-shaped, 5 to 6 millimeters long and 4 to 5 millimeters wide. Their color is reddish brown to pale brown. With seeds from unripe fruits you can see a finely grained surface, with ripe seeds, however, the outer cell wall of the seed coat protrudes up to 1 millimeter, so that the seeds appear hairy.
Distribution and locations
The species is distributed from central Mexico to Nicaragua , where it is found in deciduous and evergreen forests. The locations range from almost sea level to altitudes of 2100 meters.
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- Sandra Knapp: Solanum dulcamaroides . In: Solanaceae Source ( online ), 2010, accessed May 16, 2012.