Solanum cobanense
Not known.
Cloud forests of Honduras (Lempira, Comayagua), Nicaragua (Estelí), and Guatemala (Alta Verapaz and Huehuetenango) from 900–2550 m.
Solanum cobanense is a member of the Allophyllum/Wendlandii clade (Bohs 2005; Stern et al. 2011) that is part of a large polytomy in Clade II (sensu Särkinen et al. 2013). Despite having prickles, this group appears not to be closely related to the spiny solanums (Leptostemonum). Section Aculeigerum comprises only the prickle-bearing members of this clade.
Bohs, L. 2005. Major clades in Solanum based on ndhF sequences. Pp. 27-49 in R. C. Keating, V. C. Hollowell, & T. B. Croat (eds.), A festschrift for William G. D’Arcy: the legacy of a taxonomist. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden, Vol. 104. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.
Särkinen, T., R.G. Olmstead, L. Bohs & S. Knapp. 2013. A phylogenetic framework for evolutionary study of the nightshades (Solanaceae): a dated 1000-tip tree. BMC Evolutionary Biology 13: 212. doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-13-214
Stern, S. R., M. de F. Agra, and L. Bohs. 2011. Molecular delimitation of clades within New World species of the “spiny solanums” (Solanum subgenus Leptostemonum). Taxon 60: 1429-1441.
Solanum cobanense differs from all species of section Aculeigerum except S. truinfense by its woody canopy liana habit, coriaceous leaves, and large, fleshy flowers (4–6 cm in diameter) that are not heterandrous. Some specimens of S. wendlandii have simple leaves and might be confused with S. cobanense, but the rotate flowers of S. wendlandii with unequal anthers are distinctive.
Solanum cobanense differs from S. triunfense, with which it is nearly sympatric, in its regular calyx lobes that do not completely enclose the bud at late stages, the completely glabrous stems and new growth, and the acute, rather than attenuate, leaf bases. The flowers of S. cobanense are more deeply stellate than those of S. triunfense, but this character can be difficult to assess in herbarium sheets where flowers are collected at different stages of development.