Lycianthes cuchumatanensis
Not known.
Lycianthes cuchamatenensis occurs in Guatemala, states of Alta Verapaz and Huehuetenango, 1500–2600 m in elevation. Nothing is known about the habitat where this species grows, but it may be cloud forest.
Dean, E., F. Archila, J. Poore, H. Kang, M. A. Anguiano-Constante, T. Starbuck, A. Rodríguez. 2019. Two new species of Lycianthes (Capsiceae, Solanaceae) from Mexico and Guatemala. Phytotaxa 409(5): 261–272.
Dean, E., J. Poore, M. A. Anguiano-Constante, M. H. Nee, T. Starbuck, A. Rodrigues, and M. Conner. 2020. The genus Lycianthes (Solanaceae, Capsiceae) in Mexico and Guatemala. PhytoKeys 168: 1–333.
Gentry, J. 1973. Studies in Mexican and Central American Solanaceae. Phytologia 26: 265–278.
IUCN [Standards, Petitions Subcommittee] (2019) Guidelines for using the IUCN red list categories and criteria. version 12. Prepared by the Standards and Petitions Subcommittee in February 2019. http://jr.iucnredlist.org/documents/redlistGuidelines [accessed December 10, 2019]
Not known.
Lycianthes cuchumatanensis is a rarely collected species of Guatemala, represented by only three collections, all outside of protected areas. The EOO is 773.642 km2, and the AOO is 12 km2. Based on the IUCN (2019) criteria, the preliminary assessment category is Critically Endangered (CR).
Although Gentry (1973) thought Lycianthes cuchumatanensis to be a close relative of L. limitanea (Standl.) J.L.Gentry, L. cuchumatanensis does not resemble L. limitanea and is very similar to Lycianthes sideroxyloides (Schltdl.) Bitter in its pubescence, branching pattern, solitary leaves, stellate corollas, and equal stamens. It differs from L. sideroxyloides in having leaf blades that are usually chartaceous to thick chartaceous, rather than coriaceous, have more rounded bases (rather than cuneate), and have less dense pubescence on the abaxial side. Lycianthes sideroxyloides also has a smaller seed size (1.5–2 mm long) than that cited in the protologue for L. cuchumatanensis (Gentry 1973). The paratype cited by Gentry in the protologue (Steyermark 48625) differs from the holotype in having less dense pubescence and leaf blades that are thinner in texture. Further field work is necessary to locate extant populations at the type locality of L. cuchumatanensis to determine if it is conspecific with L. sideroxyloides. The name Lycianthes cuchumatanensis has been misapplied to L. breedlovei and L. fredyclaudiae (Dean et al. 2019).