Above. Only one open flower can be seen on the type specimen (Coulter 1227, K), and as shown above its style is missing. Only two intact stamens can be seen. Anthers (dehisced) are 1.4 mm long.

Above: Only one fruit can be seen on the type specimen (Coulter 1227) belonging to Kew

Above. The type specimen of Saracha conspersa Miers (Coulter 1227, K)

Peduncle meets pedicels, showing that there are at least 6 flowers per inflorescence including buds, and the pedicels & peduncle are densely hairy with non-gland-tipped erect finger hairs.

Discussion:

I treated this as a distinct species in my dissertation (Mione, 1992). At that time I was sure that J. conspersa should be considered a distinct species because I was growing plants of Bye & Linares 10219 and needed to pin a name on the plants, a name other than J. procumbens. I was also growing J. procumbens at the time, and was sure that the plants of Bye & Linares 10219 were not conspecfic with J. procumbens.
A few years later I realized that I could not with confidence assign certain herbarium specimens to either this taxon or J. procumbens, so I began to and have continued to annotate specimens of this taxon as J. procumbens.

Here is what I wrote in my dissertation:

JALTOMATA CONSPERSA (Miers) Mione, comb. nov.
Saracha conspersa Miers, Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 2 3: 449. 1849.
Type: MEXICO. HIDALGO, Zimapan, Coulter 1227 (Holotype: K! photos above on this web page).
Morton (1938) treated this binomial as a synonym of Saracha procumbens.

Saracha procumbens var. pilosula Morton, Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 51: 77. 1938.
Type: MEXICO. VERACRUZ, Orizaba, 5000', 10 Aug 1910, G. L. Fisher s.n. (Holotype: K!; Isotype: F!).

Perennial herb to 2 m; erect. Stems and leaves densely pubescent.
Leaves entire to repand or with a few broad teeth per margin, the blade sometimes as large 17.5 cm long by 15 cm wide, deltoid when this large. Inflorescence sometimes branched; (3) 5 - 12 flowered.
Peduncle 13 - 29 mm long; green with hints of purple. Pedicel 4 - 19.5 mm long; green.
Flowering calyx green; 6.5 - 7.5 mm in diameter; lobe radius 2.8 - 3.5 mm long; sinus radius 1.1 - 2 mm long; trichomes rarely forked; abaxial costa of lobes purple (flowering state) becoming lighter gradually towards pedicel.
Corolla rotate; pale-green; 5-lobed; 16 - 21.5 mm in diameter; lobe radius 7 - 10 mm; sinus radius 3 - 5.5 mm.
Stamens (not including expanded base) 5.7 mm long.
Filaments, slender part pubescent (finger hairs to 1 mm long) on basal 1/4th of the length.
Anthers, undehisced 1.7 - 2.2 mm long by 1.6 - 1.8 mm wide; dehisced 1.3 - 1.4 mm long.
Pollen grains 27,000 to 97,000 per androecium, 32.5 - 37.5 µm in diameter.
Style 3.8 - 4.2 mm long.
Stigma overhead dimensions 0.46 - 0.48 by 0.48 - 0.5 mm.
Ovules 48 - 100 per ovary.
Fruiting peduncle and pedicel green to purple. Fruiting calyx curving back; abaxially purple on the main vein to each lobe, adaxially dark-purple only on distal 3 mm of each lobe; lobe radius 4.8 - 7.6 mm long, sinus radius 2.0 - 4.0 mm long (both N = 17).
Fruits (mature, fresh) bright black; 5.25 - 10.1 mm long by 6 - 11.9 mm wide (both N = 18). Seeds (field collected) 1.64 - 1.76 mm long.
Chromosome number n = 12. Description based on greenhouse and garden grown plants from seeds provided of Bye & Linares 10219.

Distribution and Habitat: Central Mexico, perhaps also Oaxaca, most common in maize fields between 1,750 and 2,500 m.

Uses: mature fruit edible, sweet (Bye & Linares 10219). Jaltomata species with the best tasting fruit of those I grew.

Local Name: "titiliates" (Bye & Linares 10219).

Selected specimens examined:
MEXICO. DISTRITO FEDERAL: Pedregal de San Angel, cerca de la Ciudad Universitaria, corriente de lava basáltica con vegetación de matorral, 2,300 m, Rzedowski 27385 (WIS); El Rosario, 1 Sep 1936, L. H. MacDaniels 712 (BH, F); El Rosario, L. H. MacDaniels 658 (BH). MICHOACAN: Mpio. Tzitzio, En mil cumbres a 31 km al SW de Cd. Hidalgo, carretera a Morelia, 2,500 m, 11 Oct 1983, E. Martínez S. et al. 4746 (MEXU, MO). MORELOS: mpio. Tetela del Volcán, NE of town in along margin of maize fields, 2,200 m, R. Bye & Linares 10219 (MEXU). VERACRUZ: Mt. Orizaba, Lomagrande, 9,000', along hedgerows and in maize fields, E. K. Balls 5354 (GH, US); Hiahuatlán, 1,750 m, en cultivos de maíz, 19 Oct 1979, A. Rodríguez L. 84 (F); Huayacocotla, camino a arroyo hondo, 22 Oct 1970, R. Hernández M. & R. C. Trigos 834 (F). PUEBLA: Boca del Monte, 8,000', woods and cultivated fields, D. Reddick 639/379 (BH).