Jaltomata (Solanaceae) of Department Lima, Peru |
Link to Jaltomata home page |
Description of the genus Jaltomata |
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. |
| Flower | ![]() |
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| Habit | Woody at base, herbaceous above |
herbaceous (perennial?) |
herbaceous to suffrutescent |
shrub |
shrub |
shrub |
shrub |
| Plant Height | 20 - 50 (-70) cm |
20 cm |
20 - 58 cm |
to 1 m |
to 1.3 m |
to 1.2 m |
to 1.5 m |
| Corolla shape and size (when pressed) | crateriform; to 10 mm long by 15 mm across |
broadly crateriform -rotate; to 3.7 cm across |
broadly crateriform-rotate; to 4.2 cm across |
probably short-tubular. The limb crateriform or broadly infundibular or rotate? Limb 16 -17 mm across |
tubular with a somewhat planar limb, tube 6.5 - 8 mm long, the limb 14 - 23 mm across |
tube (always present but not evident on some pressed flowers) 3 - 4 mm long; limb 19 - 27 mm across |
tubular with a flaring to planar limb, 2 - 3 cm long |
| Corolla Color | purple or white | purple (brown and whitish green on one specimen) |
pale-green |
white with a blue ring near end of tube |
pale-green, the red at base of tube due to nectar showing through corolla |
Purple, more intensely at center; less commonly "azules" or "azuladas hasta moradas" |
bicolored in Dept. Lima: purple proximal 2/3, distal 1/3 pale-green to cream |
| Corolla having 5 pairs of maculae | Yes, visible in photo above |
Yes, visible in photo above |
No |
No data |
No |
Looks like NO from photo and study of herbarium specimens, but living plants should be looked at (inside short-tubular part of cor) |
No |
| elevation m | 2600 - 3600 |
2300 - 3400 |
200 - 2290 |
80 - 300 |
300 - 500 |
2000 - 3000 |
2945 - 3820 |
| Flowers Per Inflor | 2 - many |
1 |
1 (- 2 bud) |
to 10 |
4 - 9 |
4 - 7 (-10) |
2 - 4 (-6) |
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| Both pedicel and peduncle? | yes, but peducle absent on parts of some specimens |
no, single unarticulated axis |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
| Hairs | not densely hairy; mostly finger, some branched, non-gland-tipped with a few possible exceptions |
soft, gland-tipped |
rigid and glandless |
villous, gland-tipped |
gland-tipped finger and non-glandular dendritic
|
young axes velutinous with long gland-tipped finger hairs to young axes sparsely pubescent that hairs not appearing gland-tipped | glabrate or sparsely hairy with non-gland-tipped finger or dendritic hairs |
| Stamen length | 3 - 4 mm |
6.9 - 7.2 mm |
12 - 14 mm |
4.8 - 7 mm |
9.2 - 10.9 mm |
8 - 13mm |
25 - 30 mm |
| Anther color | cream |
drying brown |
cream or yellow or pale green |
no data |
yellow before and after dehiscence
|
blue to purple |
blue to purple |
| Nectar Color | clear |
clear |
red |
no data |
red |
clear |
clear |
| Months in flower | Dec. - Apr. and one specimen was collected in August | Jan. - Mar. |
Sep. - Oct. in lomas; Jan., Mar., Apr. in Andes |
Sep. |
July - Oct., Jan. |
Nov. - July; mostly Jan., Mar., Apr. | |
| Endemic to Dept. Lima? | Yes, if Weberbauer 7602 is a different species; No if Weberbauer 7602 is conspecific. Fieldwork in Huacavelica is needed. | No: one specimen known from Dept. Ancash |
yes |
yes |
yes |
no, but if the green-corolla plants (Ancash) are considered a different sp., the answer will be yes |
|
| Fruit Color | described as cadmium yellow in protologue but I suspect it turns orange | no data, probably orange |
orange (white, Macbride 1962) |
no data, probably orange |
orange |
no data, probably orange | green according to herbarium specimen labels, but I suspect it turns orange |
| Fruit Eaten? | not mentioned on herbarium specimen labels |
not mentioned on herbarium specimen labels |
not mentioned on herbarium specimen labels |
not mentioned on herbarium specimen labels |
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| Common, rare? | common |
apparently rare, possibly only flowerinig during (right after) el niño |
not common, or perhaps common in places |
rare or extinct; known from a single locality at which Mione, Leiva & Yacher could not find it |
rare |
not rare, possibly common |
common |
| Bowl-shaped layer of tissue formed by bases of stamens | No |
No |
Yes, click here to see photos of this amazing structure |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Synonyms | Saracha dentata R. P., S. lobata Bitter, S. sordideviolacea Bitter |
none |
Saracha ciliata Miers |
none |
Hebecladus umbellatus (R. & P.) Miers, H. turneri Miers |
Saracha propinqua Miers, Hebecladus propinqua (Miers) Bitter |
Hebecladus bicolor (R. & P.) Miers. H. biflorus (R. & P.) Miers. H. intermedius Miers H. weberbaueri Dammer |
| Sources | herbarium specimens; Mione 2001 |
Mione et al. 1993; Mione 2001 | |||||
| photo by | T. Mione |
T. Mione |
A. Granda & G. Vilcapoma |
S. J. Hevner |
T. Mione |
S. Leiva G. |
S. Leiva G. |
| Mione & Leiva G. & Yacher collection numbers | 609, 610, 611, 613, 618 |
616, 620, 622 |
615 |
none |
623, 730 |
621 |
612, 617, 625, 627, 726, 728 |
| Page Number in Brako and Zarucchi | 1107 |
this sp. had not been described when I contributed to this work |
1107 |
this sp. had not been described when I contributed to this work |
1107-1108 |
1107 |
1107 |
| Page Number(s) in Macbride 1962 | 33 - 34, as Saracha dentata; 35-36 as S. lobata; 37 as S. sordideviolacea |
this sp. was not described |
30 as Hebecladus asperus; 32 as Saracha cilata; 38-39 as S. urbaniana |
39-40 as Saracha villosa (Zucc.) G. Don
|
37-38 as Hebecladus umbellatus |
36-37 as Saracha propinqua |
30-31 as Hebecladus bicolor; 35 as H. intermedius |
Key to the Jaltomata of Department Lima, Peru:
1. One (rarely two) flower per inflorescence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1. Two to more flowers per inflorescence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Filaments glabous or very sparsely pubescent at base, nectar red, hairs not gland-tipped . . . . J. aspera
2. Filaments extremely villous at base, nectar clear, hairs gland-tipped . . . . . . . . . . . . .. J. andersonii
3. Corolla tubular, stamens over 2 cm long . . . . . . . . . . . J. bicolor
3. Corolla form variable, stamens under 2 cm long . . . . . . . . . 4
4. Below 1000 m . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4. Above 1000 m . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5. Lacking colored ring near end of corola tube, stamens > 8 mm long. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J. umbellata
5. Blue ring near end of corolla tube, staments < 8 mm long. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J. hunzikeri
6. Corolla having 5 pairs of maculae, stamens < 6 mm, anthers cream or yellow . . . . . J. dentata
6. Corolla apparently lacking 5 pairs of maculae, stamens > 6 mm, anthers blue - purple . . . . . . . J. propinqua
Comparison With Ancash: The department of Ancash borders the department of Lima on Lima's north side. Lima has seven species while Ancash has at least ten. Two of the species are shared (J. andersonii & J. bicolor). Only one specimen of J. andersonii was collected in the department of Ancash. Regarding J. bicolor, in Ancash the corolla is green and in department Lima the corolla is as shown above. If these actually represent different species then the plants from Ancash will get a new name. If J. bicolor is split in this manner, then I will report that only one Jaltomata species is shared in the departments of Lima and Ancash.
Red-Orange Nectar: In the Department of Lima only Jaltomata aspera and J. umbellata produce red-orange nectar. Click here for a table of Jaltomata species having red to orange nectar.
Islands: Three of these species (J. aspera, J. huzikeri, J. umbellata) may be viewed as growing on virtual islands (lomas). Two additional Jaltomata species grow on oceanic islands, J. antillana (Greater Antilles) and J. werffii (Galápagos Islands).
Jaltomata sp., basionym Saracha diffusa (Miers)
The type specimen of Saracha diffusa Miers is clearly a Jaltomata but the taxonomic transfer from Saracha to Jaltomata has not been done. Why? This species is known only from the type collection, and without any additional specimens from Peru there is no way for me to know if the collection locality information is in error. Jaltomata contorta is similar and is known from the same department of Peru, but see the following paragraph.
Jaltomata contorta (R. & P.) Mione
According to Ruiz & Pavon's protologue, the type specimen of Jaltomata contorta was collected in Peru, department Lima, Obrajillo (Mione et al. 1999). Graciela Vilcapoma Segovia told me (2005) that she criss crossed Obrajillo, knowing the area intimately, and never found this species. As well, Segundo Leiva G., Leon Yacher and I were unable to find this species in the Obrajillo area. The type of J. contorta was a cultivated specimen (according to the protologue) and it seems that seeds from somewhere else may have been mistakenly labeled as coming from Obrajillo, Peru. The type most closely resembles J. procumbens (The type specimen had it never been designated a type specimen, would merely be annotated as J. procumbens). Thus, perhaps I should not have transferred Saracha contorta to Jaltomata (Mione et al. 1999). I wonder if the seeds sent to Europe to grow the type specimen were collected in Peru. I expressed doubt about this species in an earlier work (Mione, 2001).
Literature Cited
Geographic Distribution of the genus Jaltomata
Description of the genus Jaltomata
Acknowledgements: I thank Arturo Granda and Graciela Vilcapoma for sending me herbarium specimens of J. aspera, J. dentata and J. propinqua, the photo of J. aspera shown above, and for discussion of J. contorta. Gregory J. Anderson and Gabriel Bernardello provided the right environment conducive to the birth of this project. I thank Segundo Leiva G. and Leon Yacher for their collaboration. David Spooner sent me his specimens of J. dentata and J. propinqua. 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.