Flora of Dominica, Part 2 - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

NUMBER 77 SOLANACEAE 21 1
Physalis cordata
Physalis cordota Miller, 1768.-Waterfall, 1967235.
Physalis turbinata Medikus, 1780:189, pl. 4.-Howard, 1989,6285.
?Physalis linkiana sensu Grisebach, 1862:436, an Nees?
Pock.
Glabrate herb; leaves ovate to elliptic, shallowly toothed;
pedicels solitary, nodding, about as long as flowering calyx;
calyx conical, the teeth soon becoming narrow; corolla rotate,
yellow with a dark eye; anther bluish; fruiting calyx strongly
5-angled, glabrous, loosely enclosing the berry.
Neotropical weed; in fields of Dominica: Canefield (Nicolson
2148).
Physalis pubescens
Physalis pubescens Linnaeus, 1753:183.
Herb with stems long-pilose below, villous upwards; leaves
ovate to elliptic, toothed or sinuate, pubescent overall; pedicels
solitary, nodding, equaling the flowering calyx; corolla yellow
with a dark eye; anthers blue: fruiting calyx strongly 5-angled,
pubescent at least on the ribs.
Neotropical weed, now widespread; in Dominica in disturbed
places: between Fond Baron Estate and Pichelin on road
to Grand Bay (Ernst I593), Soufriere (Lloyd 474, sine loc.
(Bryant 66).
Solandra Swartz
Solandra longiflora Tussac, with corolla tube 1.5~-2.5~ as
long as the calyx, included stamens, and a globose berry, was
collected in a garden in Roseau (Nicolson 4208).
Solandra grandiflora
Solandra grandflora Swartz, 1787b:300.-Bemardello & Hunziker,
1987:648.
Solandra minor Grisebach, 1862:433.
Swartsia grandiflora (Swartz) Gmelin, 1791:360.
Solandra mcranth Dund in A.P. Candolle, 1852, 13(1):533.
Glabrous woody vine, sometimes high climbing; leaves
obovate, elliptic or rotund, mucronulate; pedicels solitary,
stout, short; calyx tubular, sometimes angled, 5-9 cm long,
3-5-parted halfway or more; corolla funnelform, the tube
narrow 0.7~-1.5~ as long as calyx, the limb campanulate, with
5 round, entire to erose, spreading lobes, whitish or yellowish,
outside with 5 greenish ribs; stamens f exserted; berry conical,
apiculate.
Antilles, cultivated elsewhere; in interior of Dominica:
Brush, above Jean (Nicolson 2165), South Chiltern (Hodge
I646), sine loc. (Imray 141), Syndicate towards Milton
(Whitefoord 5975).
This species is widely cultivated and sometimes blooms
when only 30 cm tall. Leaves and flowers of some species of
Solandra are poisonous but the fruits of some are edible.
Solanum Linnaeus
Solanum melongena Linnaeus, eggplant or beloghe, is
cultivated by Caribs for fruits chiefly eaten after boiling
(Hodge and Taylor, 1957:604). This herb has copious stellate
pubescence, ovate leaves, bluish flowers and large fruits.
1. Inflorescence branched once or more.
2. Vines; flowers blue or purple (rarely white); fruits red
.................... S. seaforthianum
2. Shrubs; flowers white; fruits yellow.
3. Leaves glabrous ............... S. triste
3. Leaves conspicuously stellate-pubescent.
4. Plants unarmed; inflorescence many-branched near
apex: leaves entire; fruits held above the leaves
..................... S. rugosum
4. Plants armed; inflorescence 1-more-branched near
base into racemes; leaves sinuate or toothed; fruits
held at side of the stem .........
S. torvum
1. Inflorescence unbranched, racemose or f umbellate.
5. Leaves pubescent with stellate hairs.
6. Woody vines with hooked spines; leaves entire or the
S. lancifolium
lobes pointed .............
6. Herbs or shrubs, unarmed or with straight spines;
leaves entire or the lobes rounded ..........
..................... S. racemosum
5. Leaves glabrate or with straight hairs.
7. Plants without spines (a few hooks sometimes present
on stem angles); leaves glabrate, when present the
hairs fine. .............. S. americanum
7. Plants with straight spines; leaves pubescent with
coarse hairs, at least on the margins.
8. Leaves pubescent on the margins, glabrate elsewhere;
flowers white: fruit red, the pericarp