Table of Jaltomata species (Solanaceae) having Red/Orange nectar
Link to list of Jaltomata having edible fruits The information on this page may be cited as a communication with professor Thomas Mione, Central Connecticut State University, Biology Department, Copernicus Hall, 1615 Stanley Street, New Britain, Connecticut 06050-4010, United States of America.
Literature Cited
Link to Jaltomata
homepage
Description and Geographic Distibution of the genus Jaltomata Pollination of Jaltomata

Flower

species

habit

nectar color

Mione #

Distribution

Altitude (m)
Hairs Flowers Per Inflor Where two sepals are fused, is an outward keel formed? Corolla form;

Corolla size (mm);

Corolla color

Radial corolla thickenings ?
Corolla lobules

Anthers mucronate?
 

herrerae

shrub

nectar red

Peru, mostly Dept. Cuzco, also Ayacucho; Bolivia, La Paz.

3000 - 3800
 
1 - 2 (-3 including buds on 563, 564)
No

campanulate with a revolute limb;
35-45 broad at mouth X 15-20 long (deep)

light green

yes, evident in photo

as long as wide, not notched


Anthers not mucronate, not mucronulate.
 

paneroi

shrub


nectar
red

Peru, Dept. Cajamarca


3200 - 3550

Densely hairy: finger, forked and dendritic, never gland-tipped
3 - 4 (-6)
No

campanulate with a revolute limb;
23-25 broad at mouth X 5-10 long (deep)

green


yes, evident in photo

short (wider than long), not notched


Anthers not mucronate, not mucronulate.
 

alviteziana

suffrutescent or shrub

nectar
red

Peru, Dept. Cajamarca


2960 m

dense covering of dendritic hairs on peducle, pedicel, and calyx, and outer corolla with dendritic hairs on main veins
2 (-3)
No Data

corolla form:

Corolla Size: limb 25-27 mm long, tube 12-12.2 long X 12-13 diameter

   

 



Anthers not mucronate, not mucronulate.

 

Wurdack 1177 (K, NY, US)

shrub

nectar orange

Peru, Dept. Amazonas, prov. Chachapoyas

2750-2850
Densely hairy: long, gland-tipped finger hairs
1 - 2
No Data

no data;
30 - 34 mm broad at mouth X no data

"pale green lobes and white sinuses"
no data


Anthers not mucronate, not mucronulate.
 

dendroidea

shrub

nectar red

Peru, Dept. La Libertad, prov Pataz

3200 - 3523

leaves:
hairs all or predominatnly dendritic
1 - 3 (-4)
No to ever so slightly

campanulate;
32 mm broad X 11 mm long (deep)

green

yes, evident in photo

lobules essentially lacking (see photo)


not mucronate/
mucronulate (719) or mucronulate (722)
in same department of Peru

Leiva et al. 2370, Mione 669

shrub

nectar red

Peru, Dept. Cajamarca

2840
 
to 3 (-5 in field notes)
No
campanulate-tubular with a broad nearly flat limb; 25 - 28 mm broad at limb X about 10 long (deep)

green

 


yes

as long as wide; notched


Anthers not mucronate, not mucronulate.
 

leivae

suffrutescent or shrub

nectar
red

Peru, Dept. Cajamarca


2630 - 2650

 
(1-) 2 (-3)
No

urceolate with a revolute limb; 14 broad at mouth, 10 broad at base X 7 - 9 long (deep)

the limb blue-violet,

the tube red-violet

yes

short


Anthers not mucronate, not mucronulate.
Flower

species

habit

nectar color

Mione #

Distribution

Altitude (m)
Hairs Flowers
Per Inflor
Where two sepals meet, is an outward keel formed? Corolla form;

Corolla size (mm);

Corolla color

Radial corolla thickenings

?
Corolla lobules

Anthers mucronate?
 

J. weberbaueri

shrub

red-orange nectar

Peru, Dept. Ancash

3,000 - 3,800 m
glabrous
(except for base of filament and adax face of corolla)
1 (-2)(-3 incl. buds)
Yes
broadly campanulate; 55-60 broad X 40-45 long (deep)

violet

yes, conspicuous in photo

absent

 

Yes, anthers mucronate

 

J. guillermo-guerrae

shrub

nectar red

Peru, Dept. La Libertad

3400-3530
leaves glabrous
1 - 2
Yes
broadly campanulate; 32-36 broad X 19-27 long (deep)

green to green-blue; blue inside

Yes

short (wider than long), not notched

Yes, anthers mucronate

ventricosa

shrub

nectar orange-red*

Peru, Dept. La Libertad

2900-3500
glabrate
1 - 2 (-4)
Yes

urceolate, limb revolute; 12-14.5 broad X 8-10 long (deep)

limb whitish to pale green or pale yellow, tube red-violet

Yes

about as wide as long, curled under when flower fully open

Anthers not mucronate, not mucronulate.

 

umbellata

shrub

nectar red*

Peru, Dept. Lima, lomas

to 500
 
4 - 9
No
tubular with a rotate to campanulate limb; 14 - 23 broad X 9.2-10.9 long (deep)
the limb cream to pale green; the tube red because of nectar
none

 

Anthers not mucronate, not mucronulate.

 
flower

species

habit

nectar color

Mione #

Distribution

Altitude
Hairs Flowers
Per Inflor
Where two sepals meet, is an outward keel formed? Corolla form;

Ccorolla size (mm)

corolla color

Radial corolla thickenings?

corolla lobules Anthers mucronate?  

aspera

herbaceous to suffrutescent

nectar red

 

Peru, Dept. Lima, small coastal mountains called lomas
0 - 500 m, and in Andes 1600 - 2550 m
 
1 (very rarely 2)
No

crateriform rotate

to 49 broad

greenish-yellow or yellow-green

no

none
bowl-shaped layer of tissue formed by base of stamens.

Anthers not mucronate, not mucronulate.
 

LightGreenFruit&OrangeNectar

herbaceous

nectar
orange to red

Peru, Department La Libertad, province Otuzco

1420 - 1870 m
leaves glabrous
1
No

campanulate

Aftter pickled: 3 cm across X 1 cm deep; fresh fl 3.4 cm across in photo.

green

no

none, or much broader than wide and notched
bowl-shaped layer of tissue formed by base of stamens.

Anthers sometimes mucronulate
flower

species

habit

nectar color

Mione #

Distribution

Altitude (m)
  Flowers
Per Inflor
Where two sepals meet, is an outward keel formed? Corolla form

Ccorolla size (mm)

corolla color

Radial corolla thickenings?

corolla lobules Anthers mucronate?  

biflora

shrub

usually clear, can turn amber or orange* as flower ages

Peru, Dept. Junin

 

2700 - 3200

 
1-2 (-3 according to Macbride 1962)
ever so slightly
urceolate with a narrow mouth and broad base; corolla base 14 broad (cultivated plants) X 13 long (deep);

green

 

yes

about as long as wide, triangular, sometimes notched

 

Anthers not mucronate, not mucronulate.

 

contumacensis

shrub

netar clear or orange*

Peru, Dept. Cajamarca

2530 - 3000

 
2 (-3)
No
urceolate-tubular with a broad nearly flat (slightly recurved) limb; (16--) 18-19 broad at the limb X12 long (deep)

green

 

slightly

triangular, free part about 2 mm wide at base by 2 mm long

Sometimes mucronulate

 

J. sanchez-vegae

shrub

nectar usually clear,
can turn orange*

in cultivation

Peru, Departments
La Libertad and Cajamarca


3000 - 3300

gland-tipped finger hairs
1 - 2
No
urceolate-tubular with a recurved limb; 11 across at base, the limb 17 mm broad X 12 long (deep)

green with a purple base

 

 

Yes

Lobules evident in photo, triangular, slightly longer than width at base or as long as width at base.

Yes, undehisced anthers are
mucronulate

flower

species

habit

nectar color

Mione #

Distribution

Altitude
Hairs Flowers
Per Inflor
Where two sepals meet, is an outward keel formed? Corolla form;

Corolla size (mm)

corolla color

Radial corolla thickenings?

Corolla lobules Anthers mucronate?  

* corolla transparent, nectar can be seen through corolla wall

The species in the table above are a subset of the species that grow in Peru and Bolivia. All other Jaltomata species (not in the table) produce clear nectar.   Habitat, corolla-form, and elevation vary greatly among the species having red/orange nectar. Twelve of these species regularly produce this nectar, two of which (J. umbellata and J. aspera) grow in the lomas formation, a fog-fed desert habitat of the west coast of South America having a high level of endemism (Dillon 1997).   Other Jaltomata having red/orange nectar grow in higher and usully moister habitats.

Jaltomata that produce red/orange nectar are usually woody. One possible exception is J. aspera, which has been described by different authors as suffrutescent and herbaceous.   I suspect J. aspera is suffrutescent from the herbarium specimens I have seen. Another exception: The 4th to last species in the table is herbaceous above-ground. Its above-ground parts die back during the dry season!

Some of the Jaltomata species having this rare nectar color have tubular to urceolate corollas (see above), while the others have much more open corollas (for example, J. paneroi's corolla is campanulate, and J. aspera's corolla is crateriform-rotate).   All Jaltomata that produce red/orange nectar have corollas that remain open at night (this was directly studied for only some of these species and was inferred for the others based on corolla form). Among the Jaltomata species that have clear nectar some species have corollas that remain open at night, and others close in the late afternoon, opening again the next day.  

What makes the red/orange nectar red/orange?
At this time (March 2009) the pigment has not yet been identified. Stacy Smith generously dontated her time and did HPLC on the nectar at Duke University, from samples mailed to her dry on filter paper. She wrote "The red in the nectar is not anthocyanins. There may be some related compounds (flavonols) but no red anthocyanins, such as pelargonidin. It is unlikely that the color is from carotenoids because carotenoids are only stable if sequestered in chromoplasts. It couldn't be betalains because Solanaceae don't make those." (personal communication March 2009).
Olesen et al. (1998), using proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, identified the red pigment in the nectar of Nescodon sp. as a temperature-sensitive aurone (the nectar they studied "contained 22 -25% w/w hexose-dominated sugar").

Lobules - lobules (when present) alternate with corolla lobes. In the photos above lobules are clearly evident in J. contumacensis. Flowers that were stored in 70% ethanol when collected were used to check for the presence/absence of lobules.

Radial Corolla Thickenings - these extend from the base of each stamen to the sinus or lobule of corolla (where present). In the photos above these are most conspicuous in J. weberbaueri but are also evident in J. paneroi and J. herrerae.

Mione et al. (1994) studied the phylogeny of Jaltomata, but only two species producing red/orange nectar were included.   These two species were members of an unresolved lineage, the other species of which produce clear nectar, and so no statement about single versus multiple origins of red/orange can be made. Many woody Jaltomata species do not produce red/orange nectar.   

In Jaltomata red nectar tends to be produced in greater volumes than clear nectar, but this trend is not absolute.   At the extremes of variation, on the one hand, are J. paneroi, J. umbellata, J. ventricosa and J. weberbaueri all of which produce copious red/orange nectar.   And on the other hand, J. antillana, J. confinis, J. grandiflora, J. procumbens, J. repandidentata and J. sinuosa have been grown by T. M. for study and produce clear nectar in minute amounts.   Of these species the nectar volume of only J. sinuosa was measured, producing 0.3 to 1.75 microliters of nectar during its hermaphroditic (later) phase (7 microcapillary tube readings were done on greenhouse plants of two accessions).

Flowers of J. biflora produce 0 to 47 microliters of nectar that is usually clear but can turn amber or orange in color as the flower ages (Mione et al. 2001).   For J. biflora, refractometer estimates of sugar concentration ranged from 14 to 14.4 (average 14.2%, n = 2) for the pistillate phase, and 26 to 57.6 % (average 38.9%, n = 5) for the hermaphroditic phase (Mione et al. 2001).  Jaltomata sanchez-vegae: microcapillary tube measurements of volume gave 20 to 60 microliters for the hermaphroditic phase (8 measurements), and 18 to 24 microliters during the preceding pistillate phase (two readings).

Acknowledgements:
I thank Segundo Leiva G. and Leon Yacher for their collaboration. David Spooner sent me his specimens. I thank Arturo Granda and Graciela Vilcapoma for sending me herbarium specimens of J. aspera and the photo of J. aspera shown above. Gregory J. Anderson and Gabriel Bernardello provided an environment conducive to the birth of this project. Rene Chavez sent to Tilton Davis IV seeds of J. umbellata and T. Davis generously passed the seeds on to me, resulting in the photo above. Stacey Smith (March 2009) generously gave of her time to analze red/orange nectar with HPLC.

Future modification to the above table: The character "bowl-shaped layer of tissue formed by the base of the stamens" could be removed from the table because only a few species share this. These two species also have a similar style, gradually narrowing toward its apex. Seed size and pollen size could be added to the table.