Lycianthes Hassl.
Creators: name: Knapp, Sandra
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Solanales
Solanaceae
Lycianthes

description: Lycianthes (Dunal) Hassl., Annuaire Conserv. Jard. Bot. Geneve 20: 180. 1917 nom. cons.
Otilix Raf., Medical Fl. 2: 87. 1830, nom. utique rej. Type. Lycianthes lycioides (L.) Hassl. (as Solanum lycioides L.)
Solanum subsect. Lycianthes Dunal, Prodr. [A. P. de Candolle] 31 (1): 29. 1852. Type (designated by D’Arcy 1972, pg. 211). Lycianthes lycioides (L.) Hassl. (as Solanum lycioides L.)
Parascopolia Baill., Hist. Pl. 9: 338. 1888, nom rej. Type. Lycianthes acapulcensis (Baill.) D’Arcy (as Parascopolia acapulcensis Baill.)
Type.
Lycianthes lycioides (L.) Hassl. (as Solanum lycioides L.)
Description.
Perennial herbs, shrubs, vines, lianas or trees, sometimes epiphytic. Stems terete or angled, glabrous or pubescent with simple (unbranched), forked, dendritic or stellate trichomes, these usually eglandular, but sometimes glandular. New growth usually with minute papillae, these sometimes glandular. Sympodial units unifoliate or difoliate, if difoliate the leaves geminate and often differing in both size and shape (anisophyllous). Leaves simple, entire, glabrous or pubescent with simple (unbranched), forked, dendritic or stellate trichomes, these usually eglandular, but sometimes glandular; petioles well-developed or not. Inflorescences axillary or adnate to the stems and caulescent (L. kaernbachii of New Guinea only), fasciculate or with a short rhachis; pedicels articulated at the base. Flowers 4–6 - merous, usually 5 - merous, but some species (e. g., L. banahaensis often 4 - merous), cosexual or heterostylous, long- and short-styled flowers borne on the same or different plants (in Australia, New Guinea and the Pacific probably dioecious). Calyx with various numbers (usually multiples of five, but sometimes fewer) appendages protruding from the calyx tube below or just at the truncate rim, or appendages lacking; appendages small bumps to obovoid to linear or linear subulate in shape. Corolla rotate to deeply stellate, white to deep purple or yellow (L. banahaensis), often with the midvein of the lobes darker and the centre paler or yellow-green, interpetalar tissue present or absent, the lobes minute (rotate corollas) or long-triangular, spreading, cupped or reflexed at anthesis. Stamens equal or unequal due to anther and / or filament differences; anthers plumply ellipsoid and obovate to tapering at the tips, usually dehiscing by apical pores opening to longitudinal slits with age or not, these occasionally longitudinally dehiscent. Ovary conical, glabrous; style straight or curved, the stigma minutely capitate, clavate or strongly bifid with diverging lobes. Fruit a berry, globose to ellipsoid to ovoid, green, orange, red or purple, sometimes with stone cells in the mesocarp. Seeds few to many, usually flattened, often triangular in outline, sometimes winged (e. g., L. moszkowskii of New Guinea). Chromosome number: n = 12, 24 (few species have chromosome counts).
Distribution and ecology.
Species of Lycianthes are found in the Americas, Asia, Australia, New Guinea and the islands of the Pacific. Species richness is concentrated in Mexico and Central America. No Lycianthes species are native to Africa, Europe or North America north of Mexico.
Discussion.
By far the greatest species diversity in Lycianthes occurs in the Americas (see Dean et al. 2020), but significant diversity occurs in Asia and New Guinea (Knapp 2022; see Fig. 1). The description above attempts to cover variation across the distribution, both in the Americas and outside.
As discussed above and in the Introduction, the species treated here are mostly found throughout Asia, and although they may not be a phylogenetically distinct group, they are geographically logical to treat as a unit.Artificial key to the species ofLycianthesin tropical Asia
Synoptic character list for Lycianthes in Asia
This synoptical character list can be used as a multi-entry key for identification. I have only listed diagnostic characters here rather than the more common character state. For example, here I list inflorescences with more than 10 flowers, but not the more general case of few-flowered. For detailed distributional information please see Table 2. The list is intended to be used as a tool via a process of elimination; any character can be selected and in combination with other characters, a smaller selection of species can be obtained, for which the descriptions will be useful for coming to a final identification.
Cultivated plants: rantonnetii
Plants herbaceous and prostrate: lysimachioides
Plants epiphytic shrubs: parasitica
Plants woody lianas: oliveriana
Plants small trees: banahaensis, bimensis
Plants shrubby or sprawling shrubs: biflora, laevis, lysimachioides, rantonnetii, schizocalyx, shunningensis
Pubescence on vegetative parts of dendritic (branched) trichomes: biflora
Bark of stems pale, shiny and exfoliating: parasitica
Bark of stems conspicuously lenticellate: banahaensis
Calyx appendages absent, or apparently so: banahaensis, bimensis, laevis, oliveriana, parasitica
Calyx appendages 5 or sometimes fewer: banahaensis, bimensis, laevis, parasitica
Calyx appendages more than 5 (usually 10): biflora, lysimachioides, schizocalyx, shunningensis
Calyx appendages markedly reflexed: shunningensis
Calyx in fruit warty and partly enclosing the berry: oliveriana
Flowers heterostylous: banahaensis, bimensis, oliveriana
Corolla rotate: rantonnetii (cultivated)
Corolla lobes somewhat fleshy and thick: banahaensis, bimensis, oliveriana
Corolla yellow: banahaensis
Anthers pubescent: biflora
Berry bright red at maturity: banahaensis, bimensis, biflora, laevis, schizocalyx, shunningensis
Berry purple or blackish purple at maturity: oliveriana
Berry orange at maturity: parasitica
Berry with copious stone cells: rantonnetii (cultivated)
Berry with few seeds (2–4): parasitica
Seeds with conspicuous “ hairy ” lateral cell walls: bimensis, parasitica, shunningensis
Species descriptions
description: Published as part of Knapp, Sandra, 2024, A revision of Lycianthes (Solanaceae) in tropical Asia, pp. 1-106 in PhytoKeys 245 on pages 1-106, DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.245.121988