Jaltomata sanctae-martae (Bitter) Benítez
revised 8 Oct 2015
Link to Jaltomata
home page
The information on this page may be cited as a communication with professor Thomas Mione,
Central Connecticut State University, Biology Department, Copernicus Hall, 1615 Stanley Street, New Britain, Connecticut 06050-4010, United States of America.
Literature Cited

The following article by Carmen Benítez de Rojas appeared in Phytologia 47: 14 - 15. 1980.

 

specimens examined, Jaltomata sanctae-martae
Country region Locality elevation m habitat date collector
data entry
Colombia Santa Marta
no data
1372
no data
1898-1901 H. H. Smith 1145 (K) TYPE
March 2009
Colombia Santa Marta
no data
1829
no data
1898-1899 H. H. Smith 1855 (K)
March 2009
Colombia Magdalena Sierra de Perijá, eastern Manaure, from Floridablanca to El Cinco
2600
no data
 13 Nov 1959 J. Cuatrecasas & R. Romero Castaneda 25282 (US)
Aug 2010
Venezuela Lara, Dto. Jimenez Parque Nacional de Yacambú, sureste de Sanare
1500
no data
 8 Dec 1974 C. E. Benitez de Rojas 1751(US)
Aug 2010

 

Geographic distribution, habitat and altitudinal range
"Conocida de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta en Colombia, y en Venezuela en los estados Lara y Trujillo, creciendo en selvas nubladas a orillas de riachuelos, a elevaciones entre 800 y 2,100 m." (Benítez de Rojas 2010)

:

 

Description:

Figure
Habit & Height
"herb to 1 m" (Cuatrecasas 25282)  
Branches, young
Older
Leaves Size
Shape
arrangement and hairs    
petiole    
Inflorescence
to 10-flowered on type Figure 2
Peduncle
Pedicel
Calyx at flowering
at fruit maturity
Corolla lobes/lobules
shape and size
color
 "cream-white" (Cuatrecasas 25282)  
hairs
radial corolla thickenings
Stamen length    
filaments    
anther length & color "stamens yellow" (Cuatrecasas 25282)  
anthers of a flower dehisce simultaneously?    
pollen grains
no data
Stigma
Style length
Disk around ovary
Ovules per ovary
no data
Nectar
no data
Herkogamy
no data
Protogyny
no data
Fruit color (at maturity) and size
Infructescence
Seeds per fruit    
Seed Size
Chromosome number
no data
Growability in Connecticut, USA
no data
How long does it take from flower to ripe fruit?
no data
Self-Compatible?
no data
Seed Germination
no data

 


Variation among specimens: There are at least 10 flowers per inflorescence on the type and leaves are toothed (figure 2), and only 2 to 3 flowers per inflorescence on Smith 1855 (figure 3) and leaves are entire, collected from the same region.
The specimen from Colombia's department Magdalena (Cuatrecasas 25282) has up to six flowers per inflorescence; this specimen has long hairs, densely hairy, and the hairs carefully viewed with a dissecting scope mostly not gland-tipped.
Figure 2. Type specimen. At least some of the hairs are gland-tipped, perhaps all were when the plant was alive and only some now show it? Colombia's primary political regions are departments, but H. H. Smith did not specify which department(s) he was in when he made the two collections listed in the table above. The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is in three departments.
Figure 3. H. H. Smith 1855 (K), branches densely villous with finger hairs. Difficult to determine if they are gland-tipped, looks like yes.

 

Jaltomata auriculata and J. nitida also have white flowers and red (not orange) fruits. Jaltomata antillana has white flowers and red fruits as well but is unknown from the Andes.

Link to key to the Jaltomata of Colombia and Venezuela.