A revision of Lycianthes (Solanaceae) in Australia, New Guinea, and the Pacific

Abstract

The genus Lycianthes (Dunal) Hassl. (Solanaceae) has in the past been treated as a section of the large genus Solanum L., but is more closely related to Capsicum L. The eighteen species of Lycianthes occurring in Australia, New Guinea (defined as the island of New Guinea, comprising Papua New Guinea [incl. Bougainville] and the Indonesian provinces of Papua Barat and Papua, plus the surrounding islands connected during the last glacial maximum) and the Pacific Islands are here treated in full, with complete descriptions, including synonymy, typifications and synonyms, distribution maps and illustrations. The history of taxonomic treatment of the genus in the region is also discussed. These taxa occupy a diverse range of forested habitats, and are in diverse in habit, from small shrubs to large canopy lianas to epiphytic shrubs. They are for the most part rarely collected, and many are endemic (14 of the 18 species treated here). Australia has a single endemic Lycianthes species (L. shanesii (F.Muell.) A.R.Bean). Nine species are found in both Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, one in Indonesia only, four in Papua New Guinea only, and L. vitiensis (Seem). A.R.Bean is known from Bougainville (Papua New Guinea) and the south Pacific as far east as Samoa. Lycianthes lucens S.Knapp sp. nov. is described from the islands of Lihir, New Ireland and the Louisiade Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. The cultivated L. rantonnetii (Carrière) Bitter is also treated in full, in this region known currently only from Australia; it is native to southern South America. Preliminary conservation assessments are presented for all species except the cultivated L. rantonnetii.

An overview on studies of species complexes in Solanaceae

“…Even if we consider the possibility that many genera are well-researched and do not contain species complexes, the number is still unexpectedly low. Cestrum contains 150-200 species and we detected only one study, while Lycianthes comprises around 150 species distributed throughout America, Asia, Australia and Pacific islands (Knapp 2022) and was absent in our revision. Their considerable diversity raises questions about the existence of undetected species complexes.…”

“…We recorded the genus studied in each article, as well as the focus group (i.e., species complex name, subgenus, section, a set of species of a given genus, etc.). We weighted the number of studies of each genus per species diversity using estimates of species per genera based on recent publications (e.g., Barboza et al 2016;2022;Knapp 2020;Martínez et al 2023;Stehmann et al 2009;Stehmann & Larocca 2023). Given the importance of domesticated taxa in Solanaceae and their role in the taxonomic complexity observed in the family, we also classified articles into "wild", "domesticated" or "both" wild and domesticated groups (naturalized taxa not used as crops were considered "wild").…”

“…This draws attention since the island of New Guinea (Oceanian realm) has a considerable number of native species of Lycianthes (Dunal) Hassl. and Solanum (Symon 1985;Knapp 2022), and New Zealand (Antarctic realm, Udvardy 1987) have much more naturalized than indigenous nightshades (Howell & Sawyer 2006;Lange & Rolfe 2010). About a third of the studies used morphometric approaches to investigate species complexes, used consistently since since the 1970s.…”

Potential ethnobotanical relevance of Lycianthes sanctaeclarae (Greenm.) D`Arcy (Solanaceae): A review

“…The genus Lycianthes, also commonly known as "Ajicillo," "Barba de Tigre," "Childa," "Huevo de Sapo," and "Nicua." Was (separated from Solanum by Hassler in 1917), then in 1919 Bitter made the first monograph of the genus, and about 150 species were included, to date about 200 species distributed in tropical regions of Asia and America have been recorded (5,6,7,8) . This genus is of Neotropical affinity, distinguished by its 0-10 toothed calyx (five calyx lobes are truncated into a sleeve-shaped rim and protrude below the calyx rim) and its anthers with apical poricidal dehiscence.…”