Schriften zu Genetischen Ressourcen - Genres
Schriften zu Genetischen Ressourcen - Genres Schriften zu Genetischen Ressourcen - Genres
R.N. LESTER and M.-C. DAUNAY plied to related species, thus confusing the literature. The centre of origin of these species is South America, but many have spread into Africa. The meticulous and extensive taxonomic, cytogenetic, and other investigations of Edmonds (see EDMONDS AND CHWEYA 1997, LESTER and HAWKES 2001), have reduced the taxonomic confusion of these species and explained their evolution to a large extent. Also DNA analyses (DEHMER 2001) are beginning to help, but here we refrain from further comment on the diversity of this extremely difficult complex of species. Several species of section Solanum grow as weeds throughout Africa, or are cultivated (EDMONDS and CHWEYA 1997, BUKENYA and CARASCO 1999). The leaves provide a useful green vegetable when boiled like spinach (SCHIPPERS 2000): this cooking also reduces the amounts of potentially toxic steroid alkaloids. The most important species is S. scabrum which shows considerable diversity in vegetative features, as well as in the fruits which are also eaten (SCHIPPERS 2000). S. scabrum was probably domesticated in northern Nigeria, where perennial forms grow wild (GBILE, pers. comm.). 2. Solanum melongena L. – Brinjal Eggplant Although S. melongena was domesticated in South-east Asia rather than in Africa, many closely related wild species are indigenous in Tropical Africa, and the crop is grown extensively in both northern and southern Africa for the fruits that are cooked in many ways (DAUNAY et al. 2001a). Solanum melongena is the type species of Solanum L. subgenus Leptostemonum (Dunal) Bitter section Melongena (Miller) Dunal (CHILD and LESTER 2001). BITTER (1923) classified it into series Incaniformia Bitter subseries Melongena Bitter, but his allocation of species to subseries Campylacantha, Euincana and Melongena is not acceptable now. Within series Incaniformia there are about 12 African species, which Bitter differentiated as 28 species, but other authors have lumped 24 of these together as the S. incanum complex. Some of these were studied intensively by Hasan (LESTER and HASAN 1991, DAUNAY et al. 2001a), leading to the recognition of four widespread and important morphological species 3 : A - S. campylacanthum Hochst. ex A. Rich. B - S. delagoense Dunal C - S. incanum L., sensu stricto and D - S. lichtensteinii Willd. 3 Lester and Hasan misapplied the name S. panduriforme E. Meyer ex Dunal to species B - S. delagoense, and did not restrict species S. lichtensteinii to southern Africa. 139
Diversity of African vegetable Solanum Species Other allied but distinct morphological species recognised by LESTER et al. (1990) but not available to LESTER and HASAN (1991) are S. trepidans C.H. Wright, S. panduriforme E. Meyer ex Dunal, S. cerasiferum Dunal, S. beniense De Wild., S. aureitomentosum Bitter, S. stellativillosum Bitter, and S. lachneion Dammer. Thus there is a considerable diversity of these species in Africa that are very closely related to S. melongena, but also many other apparently less closely related species have been crossed with it with more or less success (DAUNAY et al. 1991, 1998, 1999). An extensive crossing programme onto S. melongena as female, achieved almost as high a percentage of seeds using pollen from S. incanum and S. lichtensteinii as with pollen from other accessions of S. melongena, but the fertility of these interspecific hybrids was lower. In general, hybrids of S. campylacanthum and S. delagoense with S. melongena were more difficult or impossible to obtain, whereas crosses of S. campylacanthum with S. delagoense were highly fertile, as also were hybrids of both S. campylacanthum and S. melongena with S. cerasiferum (DAUNAY et al. 1991, 1998, 2001b, LESTER and HASAN 1991, OLET and BUKENYA 2001). Numerical taxonomy of morphological characters showed that the four species studied by HASAN (LESTER and HASAN 1991) were fairly distinct, and this was shown clearly by AFLP analyses of DNA (MACE et al. 1999). The distinction between S. incanum from north-eastern Africa and S. lichtensteinii from southern Africa, which was treated as a variety of S. incanum by Bitter, was very clear. Chloroplast DNA (SAKATA and LESTER 1994) showed an even greater separation, whereas there was less separation between S. campylacanthum and S. delagoense, which might be considered as a single biological species. Studies in Uganda have shown tremendous morphological variation in S. campylacanthum, there called S. incanum, yet crossing experiments showed it to be a single biological species (OLET and BUKENYA 2001). The above data prove that even though they have many morphological similarities, at least S. incanum, S. lichtensteinii and S. campylacanthum are very distinct species and should not be confused, as they have been in the past. Furthermore, although superficially similar to S. incanum and S. melongena, S. marginatum L. f. from Ethiopia is not closely related, as proved by spermoderm SEM, crossability, chloroplast DNA and DNA analyses by AFLP (LESTER and HASAN 1991, DAUNAY et al. 1991, SAKATA and LESTER 1994, MACE et al. 1999). Numerical taxonomic studies of many accessions of S. melongena itself (LESTER and HASAN 1991) showed considerable morphological diversity, more than that within or even between S. campylacanthum and S. incanum for instance, even though the data used did not include any of the vast diversity in fruit characters (DAUNAY et al. 2001a, plate IX, 1). However, all these accessions of S. melongena were highly interfertile, and there were no greater variations shown by AFLP analyses of DNA, nor by isozymes and other molecular markers, than the variation within S. campylacan- 140
- Page 99 and 100: Ethnobotanical studies on cultivate
- Page 101 and 102: Ethnobotanical studies on cultivate
- Page 103 and 104: Ethnobotanical studies on cultivate
- Page 105 and 106: Ethnobotanical studies on cultivate
- Page 107 and 108: Ethnobotanical studies on cultivate
- Page 109 and 110: Inventorying food plants in France
- Page 111 and 112: Inventorying food plants in France
- Page 113 and 114: Inventorying food plants in France
- Page 115 and 116: Inventorying food plants in France
- Page 117 and 118: Inventorying food plants in France
- Page 119 and 120: The neglected diversity of immigran
- Page 121 and 122: The neglected diversity of immigran
- Page 123 and 124: The neglected diversity of immigran
- Page 125 and 126: The neglected diversity of immigran
- Page 127 and 128: The neglected diversity of immigran
- Page 129 and 130: The neglected diversity of immigran
- Page 131 and 132: The neglected diversity of immigran
- Page 133 and 134: Unconscious selection in plants und
- Page 135 and 136: Unconscious selection in plants und
- Page 137 and 138: Unconscious selection in plants und
- Page 139 and 140: Unconscious selection in plants und
- Page 141 and 142: R. V. BOTHMER, TH. V. HINTUM, H. KN
- Page 143 and 144: R. V. BOTHMER, TH. V. HINTUM, H. KN
- Page 145 and 146: R. V. BOTHMER, TH. V. HINTUM, H. KN
- Page 147 and 148: R. V. BOTHMER, TH. V. HINTUM, H. KN
- Page 149: Diversity of African vegetable Sola
- Page 153 and 154: Diversity of African vegetable Sola
- Page 155 and 156: Diversity of African vegetable Sola
- Page 157 and 158: Diversity of African vegetable Sola
- Page 159 and 160: Diversity of African vegetable Sola
- Page 161 and 162: Diversity of African vegetable Sola
- Page 163 and 164: Diversity of African vegetable Sola
- Page 165 and 166: Molecular diversity studies in two
- Page 167 and 168: The history of the medieval vegetab
- Page 169 and 170: The history of the medieval vegetab
- Page 171 and 172: The history of the medieval vegetab
- Page 173 and 174: The history of the medieval vegetab
- Page 175 and 176: The history of the medieval vegetab
- Page 177 and 178: The history of the medieval vegetab
- Page 179 and 180: Paintings from the 16 th to 18 th c
- Page 181 and 182: Sugar beets and related wild specie
- Page 183 and 184: Sugar beets and related wild specie
- Page 185 and 186: Sugar beets and related wild specie
- Page 187 and 188: Sugar beets and related wild specie
- Page 189 and 190: Sugar beets and related wild specie
- Page 191 and 192: Sugar beets and related wild specie
- Page 193 and 194: Utilisation of plant genetic resour
- Page 195 and 196: Utilisation of plant genetic resour
- Page 197 and 198: Utilisation of plant genetic resour
- Page 199 and 200: Utilisation of plant genetic resour
R.N. LESTER and M.-C. DAUNAY<br />
plied to related species, thus confusing the literature. The centre of origin of these<br />
species is South America, but many have spread into Africa. The meticulous and<br />
extensive taxonomic, cytogenetic, and other investigations of Edmonds (see<br />
EDMONDS AND CHWEYA 1997, LESTER and HAWKES 2001), have reduced the taxonomic<br />
confusion of these species and explained their evolution to a large extent. Also<br />
DNA analyses (DEHMER 2001) are beginning to help, but here we refrain from further<br />
comment on the diversity of this extremely difficult complex of species.<br />
Several species of section Solanum grow as weeds throughout Africa, or are cultivated<br />
(EDMONDS and CHWEYA 1997, BUKENYA and CARASCO 1999). The leaves provide<br />
a useful green vegetable when boiled like spinach (SCHIPPERS 2000): this cooking<br />
also reduces the amounts of potentially toxic steroid alkaloids. The most important<br />
species is S. scabrum which shows considerable diversity in vegetative features,<br />
as well as in the fruits which are also eaten (SCHIPPERS 2000). S. scabrum was<br />
probably domesticated in northern Nigeria, where perennial forms grow wild (GBILE,<br />
pers. comm.).<br />
2. Solanum melongena L. – Brinjal Eggplant<br />
Although S. melongena was domesticated in South-east Asia rather than in Africa,<br />
many closely related wild species are indigenous in Tropical Africa, and the crop is<br />
grown extensively in both northern and southern Africa for the fruits that are cooked<br />
in many ways (DAUNAY et al. 2001a).<br />
Solanum melongena is the type species of Solanum L. subgenus Leptostemonum<br />
(Dunal) Bitter section Melongena (Miller) Dunal (CHILD and LESTER 2001). BITTER<br />
(1923) classified it into series Incaniformia Bitter subseries Melongena Bitter, but his<br />
allocation of species to subseries Campylacantha, Euincana and Melongena is not<br />
acceptable now. Within series Incaniformia there are about 12 African species, which<br />
Bitter differentiated as 28 species, but other authors have lumped 24 of these together<br />
as the S. incanum complex. Some of these were studied intensively by Hasan<br />
(LESTER and HASAN 1991, DAUNAY et al. 2001a), leading to the recognition of four<br />
widespread and important morphological species 3 :<br />
A - S. campylacanthum Hochst. ex A. Rich.<br />
B - S. delagoense Dunal<br />
C - S. incanum L., sensu stricto and<br />
D - S. lichtensteinii Willd.<br />
3 Lester and Hasan misapplied the name S. panduriforme E. Meyer ex Dunal to species B - S. delagoense,<br />
and did not restrict species S. lichtensteinii to southern Africa.<br />
139
Change language