Solanum storkii
Not known
'False' páramo, cloud forests and high elevation grasslands in the Cordillera de Talamanca from Volcán Poas in Costa Rica to W Panama, from 2300-3300 m.
Solanum storkii is a member of the Solanum nitidum species group of the Dulcamaroid clade (Bohs, 2005).
Standley, P.C. & C.V. Morton 1938. Solanaceae.
In P.C. Standley (ed.), Flora of Costa Rica. Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. Ser. 18: 1035-1099.
Knapp, S. 1989. A revision of the Solanum nitidum species group (section Holophylla pro parte: Solanaceae).
Bull. Br. Mus. Nat. Hist. (Bot.) 19: 63-112.
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 storkii, though of restricted distribution, is locally very common, often forming pure stands above the tree line in the Cordillera de Talamanca in Costa Rica and Panama. Its distribution within its range, however, is somewhat patchy, and stands are commoner in open areas or in the later stages of second growth.
Solanum storkii had previously been confused with S. cutervanum (as S. pulverulentum, see Standley & Morton, 1938), but is quite distinct from that species. It can be distinguished from the rest of the members of the Solanum nitidum group in its sparse pubescence of echinoid trichomes, which in dry specimens appear to be in pits on the lower leaf surface, and in its deltate calyx lobes.