Jaltomata grandiflora (Robinson and Greenman) D'Arcy, Mione & Davis
Mexico
updated 2009  
Link to Jaltomata homepage 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.
Link to Jaltomata of Mexico and Central America
Flower, pistillate phase (anthers undehisced, filaments very short). Nectar is produced by pistillate phase flowers but does not show in this photo. Ovary with disk in lower left corner. Photo by T. Mione Flower, hermaphroditic phase (anthers have dehisced and filaments have elongated). Note nectar (clear) where androecium and corolla meet. Link to Floral Phenology of Jaltomata grandiflora Photo by T. Mione
Jaltomata grandiflora. Fresh leaves of cultivated plant. Left leaf among the largest (few leaves were this large) and underside is up. Right leaf is the most common size encountered and has upper side up. Left leaf is the same leaf shown in the photo at left except here the upper side is showing. Right leaf is the same as the leaf show in the photo at left except here the underside is showing.
Scans by T. Mione July 2009
Above: Jaltomata grandiflora fruit, photo by Mione in CT 31 Aug 2009.

Stem cross section, outer edge.
Photo by Daniel Brooks, independent study at CCSU.

Stem cross section showing some secondary growth.
Photo by Daniel Brooks, independent study at CCSU.

Description mostly based on living plants from seed provided by T. Davis IV of T. Davis 1114.

Habit & Height Perennial, suffrutescent, to 85 cm high when cultivated (for research in Connecticut)
Young Branches light green, velutinous with a dense covering of soft, whitish, 1.2 - 1.6 mm long multicellular finger hairs; solid
Older Branches purple, hollow internodes, pentagonal in cross section; periderm forming on oldest (lowest to the ground) stems making the lowest (oldest) parts of the stem brown and nearly terete
Leaf Size 4.3 - 4.6 cm wide, 5.15 - 5.6 cm long
Leaf Shape ovate, undulate
Leaves adaxial face bearing evenly distributed, erect multicellular finger hairs 0.8 - 1.28 mm long, sometimes gland-tipped (fresh material) the terminal droplets not viscous; abaxial face bearing a velutinous, dense covering of soft, white, multicellular finger hairs (velvety, visibly and to touch). Leaf vesture most dense on (and leaves therefore whitest on) primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary veins. On primary veins hairs about 1.2 mm long. Leaves of seedlings having abundant gland-tipped finger hairs (all hairs of young seedlings are gland-tipped, see figure below). Leaves lighter on abaxial face, on both pressed specimens (including the holotype) and live specimens; adaxial face darker green with primary vein markedly lighter than rest of blade.
Flowers Per Inflorescence 2 or 3
Peduncle 9.5 - 10.5 mm long
Pedicel 11 - 15 mm long
Calyx at Flowering green and 17 mm in diameter,
lobe radius 8 mm, sinus radius 4.6 mm.
Corolla shape including lobes/lobules, and size

rotate, 3.4 - 3.8 cm in diameter,
lobe radius 12 - 18 mm, sinus radius 8.5 - 11 mm.

Corolla lobes/lobules 5-lobed, or 10-lobed with 5 inconspicuous lobules
Corolla color and hairs green; the face that pollinators encounter is densely pilosulose with droplet-tipped finger hairs
Stamens 5.8 - 6.8 mm long. Filaments, slender part pubescent on lowest third (to 1/2 if you include the expanded base).
Anther length & color Anthers 3.0 - 3.2 mm long by 2.3 - 2.5 mm wide; light yellow; on herbarium specimens 1.71 - 2.07 mm long.
Pollen Grains 83,000 - 110,000 per androecium, 42.5 - 46.25 µm in diameter
Stigma Stigma overhead dimensions living flowers 1.04 - 1.52 mm by 0.8 - 1.08 mm; 0.72 - 1.02 measured while looking straight down at pressed specimens.
Disk around ovary Yes, see top left photo
Style length 4.5 - 6.2 mm long
Ovules per ovary 192 - 285
Nectar Clear (translucent), collects where androecium and corolla meet, both during pistillate and hermaphroditic phases (nectar is shown in top right photo)
Herkogamy? stamens and stigma are a few mm apart during hermaphroditic phase (see photo at top right)
Protogyny Yes, anthers remain closed the first day the flower is open (see sequence of photos below).
Fruit color (at maturity) and size Fruits (fresh) purple (never black, see photo above), oblate in cross section, to 12 mm long X 17.8 X 19.2 mm wide. Fruits fall free of parent plant at maturity usually without, but sometimes with, the calyx and pedicel; ripening is sometimes completed on the ground.
Calyx at fruit maturity to 25 mm diameter
Infructescence 1 or 2 fruited. Pedicel and calyx of mature fruit becoming brown and dry/papery as fruit ripens (see photo above).
Seeds 1.57 - 1.89 X 1.38 - 1.53 X 0.63 - 0.69 mm, 147 - 186 per fruit from plants grown in CT
Chromosome number

2n = 24
Growability in Connecticut, USA, outdoors Easy. In a pot or in the ground. Flowers in July from seeds planted in April. Seeds stored in the refrigerator for years germinated in only 6 days (planted 1 May 2003, seedlings observed 7 May 2003) and 8 days (planted on potting mix on window sill 11 Apr 2007, seedlings observed 19 Apr 2007).
How long does it take from flower to ripe fruit? Flower open on 2 August. Ripe fruit 9 September 2009.
Self-Compatible? Yes. A single plant was grown in 2009 and it set fruit containing normal seeds.

Diagnostic Features: No other Mexican species is similar. Jaltomata grandiflora is densely velutinous, has a peduncle shorter than 11 mm, a corolla 34 - 38 mm in diameter (hermaphroditic phase), undehisced anthers longer than 2.8 mm, and a large stigma (1.0 by 1.5 mm in overhead view). The pollen diameter (42.5 - 46.25 µm) is larger than any other Jaltomata species studied to date.

Distribution and Habitat: This species is rare: only about three collections have been made, all from the same locality. The first was the type and the other two were by Tilton Davis IV (776, 1114, 1177). The rarity of this species is of special concern because it is closely related to several species of Jaltomata that bear fruits used for food by humans.


Basionym: Saracha grandiflora Robinson and Greenmann, Am. J. Sci. ser. 3. 1895. Type: MEXICO. MICHOACAN, hills near Patzcuaro, 22 July 1892, C. G. Pringle 5273 (Holotype: GH!; Isotype: VT!).
Novon 2(3): 190-192. 1992.

Uses and Local Names: unknown.

Additional Specimen Examined. MEXICO. MICHOACAN:
Patzcuaro area, 0.65 to 1 mile past microwave tower (1.8 miles past Los Tanques Pueblo) on rd. from Patzcuaro to Tacambaro,2072 m, pine-oak forest with ferns, moss, bromeliads, lichens, rocky soil, plants sparse; jump fence and enter area with trees, right hand side of rd., 24-25 Jul 1977 for Davis 776 (MO) which specifies Rt. 120 to Santa Clara from Patzcuaro; 3 Jul. 1982 for Davis 1114 (MO, greenhouse grown specimens at COLO,CONN,MEXU, and VT as T.Mione 454); 15 Aug. 1984 for Davis 1177 (MO).

Above: J. grandiflora stem cross section near the ground, where stem was widest in photo immediately below. In the above photo the blue on the left is secondary xylem. Purple having cell rows lined up with the secondary xylem is secondary phloem. This stem, when sectioned, was 10 mm diameter and brown, the brown being the outer surface of the periderm (cork), as shown in the photo below. Sectioning and above photo by Sarah Saunders September 2009 at Central Connecticut State University. In the photo below note old leaves are fading (light green) and new leaves (dark green). Plant in photo shown below grown summer 2009. Photo and growing of plants by T. M.

 

Petiole cross sections, above and below. Note the presence of three vascular bundles. The larger vascular bundle is crescent shaped and is the only vascular bundle shown in the photo below. Above, it is pointed out by the left arrow. A pair of much smaller vascular bundes flanks the larger vascular bundle; one of these smaller vascular bundles is pointed out by the white arrow at right in the above photo. Collenchyma in lower right of upper photo. By hand with a razor blade August 2009, stained with toluidine blue, sectioning and photos by T. Mione.

 

Gland-tipped finger hair of seedling.  These are 3-celled (one hair out of about 20 had 4 cells) and uniseriate.  Only the terminal cell has dense cytoplasm (stained with neutral red); the other cells do have nuclei, easily seen with phase contrast (not shown). The hairs seen were 0.37 to 0.62 mm long, and all looked like this.  The youngest non-cotyledon leaves were observed, and were velutinous with hairs like this. Note that the terminal cell is rounded at its tip, and is markedly wider than the neighboring cell.

Observations (with a compound microscope) on seedling hairs were again made in 2007: hairs observed were 2-celled, 0.11 to 0.19 mm long, the terminal cell bulbous. Both cells densely cytoplasmic. Photo and observations by Tom Mione.
Unripe fruits. Calyx on top of each fruit. Photo by T. Mione
Above: Jaltomata grandiflora fruit, photo by Mione in CT 31 Aug 2009.