A revision of the “African Non-Spiny” Clade of Solanum L. (Solanum sections Afrosolanum Bitter, Benderianum Bitter, Lemurisolanum Bitter, Lyciosolanum Bitter, Macronesiotes Bitter, and Quadrangulare Bitter: Solanaceae)

Abstract

The (ANS)African Non-Spiny clade contains 14 species of mostly large canopy lianas or scandent shrubs confined to Madagascar (10) and continental Africa (4, with with one species reaching the southern Arabian peninsula). Members of the clade were previously classified in sections Afrosolanum Bitter, Benderianum Bitter, Lemurisolanum Bitter, Macronesiotes Bitter and Quadrangulare Bitter, and were throught to be related to a variety of New World groups. The group is an early-branching lineage of non-spiny solanums and characters shared with other vining New World solanums are homoplastic. The 14 species of the group occupy a wide range of habitats, from wet forests in western Africa to savanna and dry forests of southern Madagascar and dune habitats in South Africa. Many members of the group are highly variable morphologically, and habit can vary between shrub and canopy vine in a single locality. We here review the taxonomic history, morphology, potential relationships and ecology of these species; we provide keys for their identification, descriptions, full synonymy (including designations of lectotypes and neotypes) and nomenclatural notes. Illustrations, distribution maps and preliminary conservation assessments are provided for all species.

A revision of the Solanum elaeagnifolium clade (Elaeagnifolium clade; subgenus Leptostemonum, Solanaceae)

“…5E). These small folds in the anther surface are similar to the papillate (papillose) anther surfaces of S. mortonii and some species of non-spiny solanum from Madagascar (Chiarini 2007; Knapp and Vorontsova 2016). These papillate anther surfaces occur in some, but not all, herbarium specimens of all members of the Elaeagnifolium clade (see species descriptions).…”

“…A project funded by the United States National Science Foundation’s Planetary Biodiversity Inventory (PBI) program begun in 2004 sought to accelerate species-level taxonomic work across the genus and resulted in a series of monographic and phylogenetic treatments from both Old and New Worlds (e.g., Tepe and Bohs 2011; Stern et al 2013; Knapp 2013a; Knapp and Vorontsova 2016; Clark et al 2015; Wahlert et al 2014, 2015; Aubriot et al 2016; Vorontsova and Knapp 2016; Spooner et al 2016). An electronic monographic treatment of the entire genus, with species and species groups added as they are completed, is available online in the web resource Solanaceae Source (http://www.solanaceaesource.org).…”

A revision of the Old World Black Nightshades (Morelloid clade of Solanum L., Solanaceae)

“…As is seen in many other groups of solanums (e.g. Dulcamaroid clade, ANS clade, see Knapp 2013; Knapp and Vorontsova 2016) where flowers last more than one day, the corolla lobes vary in the degree to which they are reflexed through the life of the flower. Lobes often are spreading on day one, become reflexed to strongly reflexed on subsequent days and, as the flower ages, become spreading again.…”

“…They usually occur along the angles of upper parts of larger stems and are often decurrent from leaf bases. These are not true prickles, like those found in the “spiny” solanums (Leptostemonum clade, see Knapp and Vorontsova 2016) but are similar in that they are outgrowths of the epidermis and are usually associated with trichomes as the enlarged basal portions of stem trichomes that have fallen off. They have been used to differentiate species in this group, but these structures are variable within species where they do occur and even within stems on a single plant.…”

A revision of the Morelloid Clade of Solanum L. (Solanaceae) in North and Central America and the Caribbean

“…In his Solanorumsynopsis (Dunal 1816) he maintained Maurella, adding to it taxa described by himself and others, most of which are still considered related (except for S.quadrangulare Thunb. = S.africanum Mill., a member of the African Non-Spiny Clade, see Knapp and Vorontsova 2016). Dumortier (1827) used this group, with a changed spelling to “Morella” for the Belgian species.…”