Solanum riparium
Not known
Solanum riparium is distributed in the Andes of Peru, Bolivia, and northern Argentina along the lower eastern slopes and in the river valleys of the Cordillera Central and Cordillera Oriental from 100-2600 m. It is associated with secondary growth of tropical and subtropical deciduous vegetation, along roadside slopes, river banks, and savannahs.
Solanum riparium is a typical member of Solanum section Brevantherum (the Brevantherum clade of Bohs, 2005). Its phylogenetic position within the Brevantherum clade has not been investigated using molecular data.
Ruiz, H. & J.A. Pavón 1799. Flora Peruviana et Chilensis.
Madrid, Spain: Gabrielis de Sancha. (1965) Reprint. J. Cramer, Lehre, Stuttgart.
Roe, K.E. 1967. A revision of Solanum sect. Brevantherum (Solanaceae) in North and Central America.
Brittonia 19: 353-373.
Roe, K.E. 1971. Terminology of hairs in the genus Solanum.
Taxon 20: 501-508.
Roe, K.E. 1972. A revision of Solanum section Brevantherum (Solanaceae).
Brittonia 24: 239–278.
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.
Solanum riparium is distinguished from all other species in section Brevantherum by its decurrent leaf bases that are sometimes abruptly and narrowly so; prominent lateral veins on lower leaf surfaces; corollas exserted early, often ribbed in bud; and calyces short, the lobes small.
The name S. riparium has long been applied incorrectly to the species described as S. appressum in Roe (1972). How this misapplication of the name came about is not known, nor is it understandable, since type specimens are extant. The illustration in Ruiz & Pavón (1799) is not definitive for S. riparium but the species cannot be confused with S. appressum, which has lanceolate to narrowly elliptic rather than broadly elliptic leaves. The species recgonised here as S. riparium had commonly been called S. carnosipes.
Bang 2932, the type number for S. carnosipes is a series of mixed collections of S. riparium and S. conglobatum, thus making typification difficult. Specimens at BM and WIS are mixed on the same sheet, while at NY the two sheets of Bang 2832 are of the two different taxa. A lectotype will need to be chosen to fix the application of this name to its current usage, for this NY00139082 is a logical choice.