Lycianthes (Dunal), Hassler, Ann. Conserv. Jard. Bot. Geneve

Costa-Silva, Rafael & Agra, Maria de Fatima, 2022, Taxonomic Revision of Lycianthes (Capsiceae, Solanaceae) in Brazil, Systematic Botany (Basel, Switzerland) 47 (3), pp. 642-666 : 651-652

LYCIANTHES (Dunal) Hassler, Ann. Conserv. Jard. Bot. Geneve 20: 180. 1917. TYPE SPECIES: Solanum lycioides L., lectotype designated by D’ Arcy, 1972, p. 211). For full generic synonymy, see Benıtez de Rojas and D’ Arcy (1997), Dean (2004), and Dean et al. (2020).

Herbs, shrubs or lianas, branches terete, erect or in zigzag, striate, glabrous to pubescent to tomentose with trichomes simple eglandular (multicellular), glandular, adpressed or erect, branched, bifurcated, and stellate (stalked or sessile) trichomes. Sympodial units unifoliate and solitary or difoliategeminate, the leaf pairs sometimes anisophyllous. Leaves simple, chartaceous, cordiform, ovate to elliptic to oblong-elliptic; base sagittate, cordate, cuneate, or rounded; apex acute, acuminate, rounded, or obtuse; margin entire; petiole terete or canaliculate, slightly rugose, glabrous or pilose. Inflorescences of solitary or fasciculate axillary flowers. Pedicels terete, curved at the apex. Flowers perfect, pentamerous, opening one at a time. Calyx cupuliform, campanulate or patelliform, truncate at the apex, with 10 appendages emerging below the margin, glabrous or pilose, reflexed, curved or spreading out radially. Corolla white or lilac to purple, rotate, stellate, campanulate, glabrous or puberulent, the interpetalar tissue entire or partially split. Androecium with five stamens, the filaments straight, of equal or unequal length, with four shorter and one longer, glabrous; anthers yellow, elliptic, lanceolate, or oblong, attenuate at the apex, dehiscence poricidal, the pores terminal, extrorse, rounded, elliptic, with pores of the longer stamens dehiscing toward the style or upwards, pores of shorter stamens dehiscing toward or away from the style. Gynoecium with ovary globose, sub-globose, conical, or ovoid, glabrous; style glabrous, exceeding or equalling the anthers, straight or slightly curved at the apex; stigma oblong-clavate to clavate, bilobed, minutely papillose, bright green. Fruit a berry, glabrous, globose, ovoid, or elliptic, red, orange or yellow when ripe. Fruiting pedicels enlarged, upright, terete to subterete, green to brown, glabrous or pilose, the trichomes simple (glandular and eglandular) to branched and stellate. Seeds numerous, discoid, slightly reniform, elliptic, lenticular, flattened, the surface rust-colored, yellowish, or beige, finely pitted to reticulate.

Notes —The genus Lycianthes is represented in Brazil by 12 species belonging to Lycianthes subgenus Polymeris Bitter , with three subordinate sections: Lycianthes sect. Asaropsis Bitter , with two species ( L. asarifolia and L. repens ); Lycianthes sect. Simplicipila Bitter , with three species ( L. amatitlanensis , L. coffeifolia , and L. inaequilatera ); and Lycianthes sect. Eupolymeris Bitter , with seven species ( L. bitteri , L. cearaensis , L. glandulosa , L. leptocaulis , L. pauciflora , L. rantonnetii , and L. stenoloba ).