Figure 2.

The above photo and the photo on the right
are of Daniel Mugaburu's collection,
grown as Mione 608
and photographed in Connecticut
by Thomas Mione.

Figure 3.

Photo of the type specimen
housed in Paris.

Smallest units on ruler are mm.

Illuminated with four incandescent bulbs
photo by Thomas Mione

Country, Department Province

The following is modified from Mione et al. 2001:

The fruits of Jaltomata biflora are at least occasionally eaten. Until this study Jaltomata biflora (R. & P.) Benítez was known almost exclusively from the type specimens collected by Dombey in the late 1700s and the inaccurate illustration in the protologue (tab. 179a). The lectotype (MA; F neg. 29720: photos at GH, WIS) lacks flowers and fruit, but the isolectotype at P bears intact flowers. Specimen 8422/28 at G may be a type given that it is conspecific and a label on it indicates “Herb. Pavon,” but neither collection number nor locality are present. Other than the types, only a few collections of J. biflora have been seen among the hundreds of specimens studied at B, BH, BM, C, COL, COLO, CONN, G, F, GH, K, LD, MA, MO, NY, P, US, USM, VT, WIS.

To track down the type locality we noted that it was given as "huasa-huasi" on the label of the types, and "Huassahuassi" in the protologue. Also, Saracha biflora (the basionym) was listed by Ruiz among the species discovered near Tarma. With this information we consulted maps and learned that Huasahuasi is a small town in Peru, department Junín, province Tarma.

Its habitat is roadsides and disturbed vegetation along agricultural fields. Although the steep slopes of the mountains surrounding Huasahuasi are grazed and have been cleared for cultivation, this sprawling shrub appears to not be rare because it tolerates disturbance.

At least some locals currently call it "capulí silvestre" and "capulí de campo," and the local name was given as "tomatillo cimarron" in the protologue and as "tomate cimaron" on the type. Ruiz (1931) mentioned that fruits were eaten by children, and Daniel Mugaburu's guide said that fruits are occasionally eaten when found along the hillsides, and that the plants are grazed by livestock. Pressed specimens (D. Mugaburu 5 & 6) were deposited at MO and MOL.

For this study of floral biology, seeds were collected at or near the type locality. Plants were grown at the University of Connecticut in a greenhouse with minimum evening temperatures of 7-10 C, and daytime temperatures of 15-29 C depending on cloud cover/sunshine; plants did not flower under warmer conditions present in other greenhouse rooms. Two fruits, collected in Peru, were orange at maturity and had 161 and 166 seeds each. Other observations were made in the greenhouse during April and May of 2000. The corolla (Fig. 1, 2), 1.3 cm long, is green and urceolate with a narrow mouth and broader base 1.4 cm in diameter. The limb (ultimately revolute) is made up of five narrowly triangular lobes alternating with inconspicuous lobules. The stamens and style are exserted beyond the mouth of the corolla on mature flowers. The anthers are purple before dehiscence. The calyx and corolla bear a dense indument of gland-tipped finger hairs. Stalked glands were present but rare on the abaxial face of the calyx. Neutral red stained both the multicellular head of these glands and the tip of the glandular finger hairs.

Flowers remained open six to nine days (mean 7.25 days, n = 10 flowers), and remained open at night. The filaments and the style elongated during the first few days a flower was open, and only after a stamen elongated did its anther dehisce. During April, two to four of the anthers of a flower dehisced one day and the others dehisced the morning of the next day (n = six flowers). In May, however, when daytime temperatures in the greenhouse were noticeably warmer, all of the anthers of a flower dehisced in one day by 10:00 am (n = four flowers). The pistillate phase lasted two to three days (mean 2.3 days, n = 10 flowers) with the stigma protruding through the partially open corolla on the first day. This species is self-compatible. All three of the flowers manually emasculated and self-pollinated during the pistillate phase set fruit, as did all four of the flowers that were manually self-pollinated during the hermaphroditic phase. Many fruits were spontaneously set in the greenhouse in the absence of pollinators. These were orange at maturity, subspherical, and up to 14 mm in diameter.

Nectar was sweet to the taste. A refractometer was used to estimate percent sugars from destructively sampled flowers. Average sugar concentration during the pistillate phase was 14.2 % (range 14 to 14.4, n = 2) and 38.9% for the hermaphroditic phase (range 26 to 57.6 percent, n = 5). Given that the pistillate phase precedes the hermaphroditic phase, and no nectar was removed by pollinators, the higher sugar concentration during the latter phase may have been due to continual nectar secretion and/or evaporation of water from the nectar. Flowers produced 0 to 47 µl of nectar (n = eight flowers). Nectar was clear at first, and although inconspicuous, could be seen through the corolla wall. Nectar became more conspicuous toward the end of the hermaphroditic phase: it turned amber to orange in color, as viewed both through the corolla wall and when removed with a clear pipette tip.

Figure 7.

Stamens (two,
three were
removed)
attached to
base of corolla

Jaltomata biflora










Photo by Melissa Luna, T. Mione 608, flower from a plant grown in Connecticut and then preserved in 70% ethanol.