Jaltomata antillana (Krug and Urban) D'Arcy, Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 65: 780. 1978.

Saracha antillana Krug and Urban., Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin 1(2):80. 1895. Type: JAMAICA. W. Harris 5109/5522 (Syntype: 5522 F!, photos of this specimen, F neg. 49398, F!, WIS!). D'Arcy (l.c.) indicated the syntypes as being present at, "B, if extant, neither seen". But no syntype was present in a loan from B. However, all Jaltomata types deposited at B were destroyed prior to World War II, so the syntype not seen (5109) could have been at B prior to World War II. Taxonomic Literature II indicates that W. Harris' herbarium and types are at NY and MONTU; no syntype is at MONTU (pers. comm., Acting Curator of MONTU) nor was a syntype obtained in a loan from NY.

Suffrutescent; erect; to about 1 m high. Leaves, branches, peduncles, pedicles and abaxial face of calyx villous, finger hairs all uniseriate, viscous-gland-tipped, of two length classes. Leaves toothed to subentire. Inflorescence 4 - 13 flowered. Peduncle to 3.3 cm long; sometimes fused to stem and as a result the pedicel appearing sessile. Pedicel 1 - 2 cm long. Flowering calyx green; 9 - 15 mm in diameter; lobe radius 4.8 - 8 mm; sinus radius 2 - 4 mm. Corolla rotate; white; 10-lobed; 20 - 26 mm in diameter; lobe radius 10.5 - 11 mm; sinus radius 6.2 - 7.5 mm; adaxially with a vesture of finger trichomes 0.26 - 0.28 mm long; closing at night. Filaments, slender part with pubescence along at least the proximal 88 %, the hairs clear/unpigmented. Anthers as long as wide, 1.3 - 1.6 mm long by 1.4 - 1.6 mm wide; pale-white or pale-yellow green; among anthers of a flower dehiscence sometimes temporally staggered. Pollen grains 39,000 - 49,000 per androecium, 30 - 37 µm in diameter. Style including stigma 2.6 - 3.4 mm long. Stigma at same height as the dehisced anthers; overhead dimensions 0.4 - 0.44 mm by 0.44 - 0.48 mm. Ovules 120 - 162 per ovary. Fruits (mature, fresh) bright red. Seeds (field-collected) 1.1 - 1.12 mm long. Description based on greenhouse-grown plants from seed of Mione & Jimenez 547.

Note: fruits abundantly self-set in pollinator-free greenhouse.

Diagnostic Features: viscous-gland-tipped hairs of two length classes, white rotate corolla to 2.5 cm in diameter, pubescent/villous filaments, fruits bright red. The only Jaltomata of the Greater Antilles. Plants of J. auriculata are similar when young but hairs are not gland-tipped.

Distribution and Habitat: All islands of the Greater Antilles, disturbed habitats.

Uses and Local Name: unknown.

Representative Specimens Examined:
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. LA VEGA, Carretera Constanza a Pinar Parejo, cerca de Rio Pinar Parejo, a la izquierdo de la carretera, 1,646 m, sitio semi-humedo, area perterbado recentamente, creciendo con Bocconia frutescens, 12 Feb 1991, T. Mione & F. Jimenez 547 (COLO, CONN, MEXU, USD).
HAITI. vicinity of Furcy, mt. Tranchant, 1,300 m, 26 May to 15 Jun 1920, E. C. Leonard 4791 (US).
PORTO RICO. Cerro de Punta, 1,300 m, 21 Jul 1962, Bro. Alain 9533 (NY).
JAMAICA. Hardware Gap, 4,000', 12 Feb 1908, W. Harris 10120 (F, NY, US). CUBA. Oriente, slopes of La Bayamesa, crest of the Sierra Maestra near Aserradero San Antonio de los Cumbres, 1,500 - 1,800 m, 21 - 24 Jan 1956, C. V. Morton 9234 (US).