Jaltomata umbellata (Ruiz López & Pavón) Mione & M. Nee

Peru
revised July 2021  
Link to Jaltomata homepage 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, CT 06050-4010 USA
Link to the Jaltomata of department
Lima, Peru

Link to the Jaltomata of lomas formations
Link to Jaltomata having red / orange nectar
Link to chromosome count
Figure 1. Inflorescence of Jaltomata umbellata. The red "juice" in the flower is red nectar! Photo by Jamie Kostyun, Mione 432.
Figure 2. Red nectar shows through the corolla tube
(Mione 432, photo by T. Mione)

Figure 3. Flowers of Jaltomata umbellata
(Mione 432, photo by T. Mione)


Taxonomy

Jaltomata umbellata (Ruiz López & Pavón) Mione & M. Nee.

Atropa
umbellata Ruiz López & Pavón, Fl. Peruv. 2: 44, plate181, fig. a. 1799. Type: PERU. Chancay, Limae et Lurin, Dombey s.n. (LECTOTYPE: P!). Hebecladus umbellatus (Ruiz López & Pavón) Miers, London J. Bot. 4: 322. 1845.

Hebecladus turneri Miers, London J. Bot. 4: 323. 1845. TYPE: Without locality, evidently from a cultivated specimen fide Miers, D. Turner s.n. (HOLOTYPE: K!).

 

Character Description Figures on this page
Habit & Height
Shrub to 1.3 m  
Branches, young
pilose, the hairs long, soft, mostly finger-like, sometimes with both gland-tipped finger hairs and shorter non-glandular dendritic hairs interspersed among each other  
older
terete in cross section  
Leaves, size
blades less than 11 cm long and 8 cm wide. 2, 3, 10
shape blades typically entire; ovate, the apex acute.  
hairs young leaves pilose, the hairs long, soft, finger-like  
petiole    
Inflorescence

4-9 flowered

1
peduncle
4.5-11 mm long  
pedicel
6-9 mm long, densely hairy, with clear droplets terminating all the haris (gland-tipped finger hairs)  
Calyx at flowering
8-9 mm diam.; lobe radius 4-5 mm long; sinus radius 2 mm long. Lobes of calyx triangular to narrowly triangular. Abaxial face of calyx bearing both gland-tipped finger hairs and shorter, non-glandular dendritic hairs interspersed among each other.  
shape / position when flowering concavely subrotate  
at fruit maturity calyx-lobe radius 6-8 mm  
Corolla color
cream or pale-green; remaining open at night.  
shape and size

Tubular with a broad limb. The tube 4 mm diameter X 6.5-8 mm long, partially to nearly completely filled with red nectar.
14-23 mm diam.
limb rotate to campanulate

Lobes narrowly triangular.

 
lobes / lobules
no lobules (field-collected 623)  
hairs
inner face of cor lobes having erect gland-tipped finger hairs  
Stamen length including anther
(including expanded base) 9.2-10.9 mm  
length stamens exserted beyond distal end of corolla (applicable if corolla has a well-defined tube) up to 7 mm  
no (Mione 623, July 2021, No radial thickenings!) 7
base expanded laterally? yes 7, 8, 9
filaments slender part with a few to several finger trichomes to 0.5 mm long on basal 1/4-1/3 of the length  
anther color yellow  
anther size

undehisced 1.9-2.1 mm long X 1.4-1.5 mm wide
dehisced 1.2-1.3 mm long

 
anther mucronate/mucronulate No 432 & 623 were examined
insertion of filament into anther    
anthers of a flower open simultaneously? No, "Anthers typically dehisce in the morning, although not all at once, and occasionally one or two anthers within a flower remain undehisced into the afternoon." Observation by Jamie Kostyun, cultivated plants of Mione 432
pollen grain size    
corona No  
Stigma
pale-green, exserted beyond anthers up to 8 mm but sometimes not; overhead dimensions 0.46-0.56 mm by 0.4-0.46 mm; often protruding through the otherwise closed corolla prior to anthesis, not bilobed  
Style
8-13.3 mm long, dull-white,
0.29 mm diam at midlength
 
Ovary
pale-green, the disk orange  
Nectar
red (observations made both in the field and in the greenhouse) 1, 2, 3
Herkogamy Yes 2, 3
Protogyny    
Fruit color (at maturity) and size
orange in greenhouse  
Seeds per fruit
to 63 (n = 3 fruits on plant grown in CT, 432)
Seed Size
1.36-1.48 mm long (field collected)  
Self-Compatible?
yes, at least occasionally self-sets fruit in greenhouse  
Character Description of Jaltomata umbellata Figures on this web page

 

Character Description  
Growability in Connecticut, USA
not difficult  
How long does it take from flower to ripe fruit?
no data  
Flowers Closing For The Night?
No Jamie Kostyun agrees, personal communication
Self-Compatible?
yes, at least occasionally sets fruit in pollinator-free greenhouse  
Seed Germination
9 to 14 days, explained below  
Pollen quantity per flower 47,813 - 53,750 (n = 3 flowers, 432)
Ovules per ovary
70-78 (n = 3 flowers, 432)
Ratio of pollen to ovules
616 - 746.5 (n = 3 flowers, 432)
Chromosome number
2n = 24 (Diers, 1961);
n = 12 (meiosis of anthers from plants from seeds of Chavez s.n.).
 
Character Jaltomata umbellata  

 

 

Specimens Studied
all of Peru, department Lima
Province Locality altitude m habitat date collector
presumably Chancay TYPE SPECIMEN:
"Chancay, Limae et Lurin"
The book "Travels of Ruiz Pavón and Dombey in Peru & Chile" also mentions this species growing in Lurin.
no data
no data
no data

Dombey s.n. (P!)
See photos at bottom of this web page.
A specimen from Pavon's herbarium at G is presumably an isotype.

Chancay Lomas de Lachay
650
debajo de peñas
14 Jul 1948
R. Ferreyra 3861 (US)
Chancay Lomas de Lachay
400-450
arcilloso-arenoso
23 Sep 1959
R. Ferreyra 13797 (G)
Chancay Lomas of Lachay, 105 km N of Lima on Panamerican Hwy
300-500
lomas
15 Oct 1983
M. O. Dillon et al. 3626 (BH NY US)
Chancay 105 km N of Lima on PanAm Hwy, then drive west into Reserva Nacional de Lachay
480
lomas
16-17 Jan 1998
T. Mione, S. Leiva G. & L. Yacher 623 = S. Leiva G., T. Mione & L. Yacher 2131 (HAO)
Chancay 11 21 30 S, 77 22 11 W
478
lomas, next to boulder an open hillsides
15 June 2005
T. Mione, S. Leiva G. & L. Yacher 730, photos and DNA only, no pressed specimen
Chancay Lomas del Lachay, 80 km N of Lima on Pan-American Highway, 11 20' S, 77 30' W
400
lomas
1 Sep 1991 A. Gentry et al. 74517 (NY)
no data
Sandy hills of Lachay-Lima   dry and hot desert   R. Chavez s. n. [herbarium specimen not seen; photos on this web page were taken of plants grown from the seeds of this collection, grown as Mione 432]
Huaral Lomas de Granados   lomas   Cuba-Melly & Odar (2018)
Huaral Lomas de Granados
300 - 450
lomas
26 Aug 1950 C. Vargas C. 9558 (CUZ)
Lima handwriting unreadable: this specimens seems to have been collected near Lima
no data
lomas, based on my experience, not given on specimen label
1876 Campagne de la Magicienne; collection number difficult to read, possibly 1573 (K)
Lima Atacongo Lomas, 32 km S of Lima, 8 km east of Pachacamac Ruins
400
lomas
27 Sept 1938 H. E. Stork, O. B. Horton & C. Vargas 9294 (GH, K)
Lima Lomas de Atocongo
no data
lomas
10 Nov 1946
O. Velarde Nuñez 212 (US)
Lima Amancaes  
lomas, based on label data of other specimens collected at same locality
Aug 1912
55 (K)
Lima Amancaes  
lomas, based on label data of other specimens collected at same locality
Mathews 722, listed by Miers in Illustrations of South American Plants.
Lima vicinity of Lima, San Agustín
350
lomas, based on label data of other specimens collected at same locality
July 1909
A. Weberbauer 5223 (NY US)
Lima vicinity of Lima, San Agustín
350
Loma-formation
July 1909
A. Weberbauer 5228 (US)
Lima vicinity of Lima, San Agustín
loma
27 Sep 1940 E. Asplund 13776 (G US)

Macbride (1962) incorrectly listed this species as growing in Peru's department Amazonas.

Seed Germination
Seeds germinated in only 9 days after being stored in the refrigerator for about 15 years! These were planted in cups of moist potting mix on a sunny window sill on 14 Apr 2007 and the first seed germinating was noted on 23 Apr 07. I kept seeds consistently moist (nearly wet for the first few days) and used a plug-in mat that provides mild heat underneath. The 2007 seeds were collected from three different plants grown from the original seeds, planted as follows.
In 1989 seeds germinated in 14 days. These seeds were planted on 13 Aug 1989 and the first seed geminating was noted on 27 Aug 1989. At this writing (2007) I can't recall exactly how I germinated seeds back then, but I don't think I used a heat mat underneath, and the seeds were probably in a mist room until they germinated. My seeds per fruit data for this species is dated March 1992, so the 2007 seeds that germinated were very likely from the seeds counted in March of 1992.


Seedling Hairs
All perfectly straight, unbranched, uniseriate, droplet-tipped (gland-tipped), clear (unpigmented). Length highly variable, from 0.06 mm long to 3.04 mm long. If I look at the hairs with a dissecting scope, and touch something to the tip of the hair while looking, I can see that the substsance at the tip of the hair is viscous (observations made 5 May 2007).

 

Literature Cited

Figure 4. Possible gynodioecy. These floral morphs were found on two different plants near each other. Functionally hermaphroditic flowers (left) have much larger anthers and a smaller stigma than the functionally pistillate flowers (right). If the flower at left is actually functionally staminate then dioecy, not gynodioecy, would be the case. The ovaries of the two morphs are similar in size. Photograph and information generously provided by Carlos Martel, Museo de Historia Natural, UNMSM-Lima
(Mione has seen similar situations in J. diversa, J. lanata 741, J. lojae 813, J. sagastegui 755, and J. truxillana).
Figure 5. Inflorescence of Jaltomata umbellata. The red "juice" in the flower is red nectar! Photo by Jamie Kostyun, Mione 432.
Figure 6. Jaltomata umbellata. Base of flower showing base of androecium. Mione 432, photo by T. Mione
Figure 7. Jaltomata umbellata. Base of flower showing laterally (not radially) expanded base of stamens. Mione 432, photo by T. Mione
Figure 8. Jaltomata umbellata. Base of stamen is laterally (not radially) expanded. Mione 432, photo by T. Mione Figure 9. Jaltomata umbellata. Dorsal view of base of stamen. Base is laterally (not radially) expanded. Vertical black lines at base are 1 mm apart, the edge of a ruler. Mione 432, photo by T. Mione
photo
caption

 

Figure 10. The above figure and caption are from Huziker (2001) page 195. The specimen selected to be used for the drawing of J. umbellata is listed above as one of the specimens I examined.

 

Acknowledgements: Sandra Ek taught me how to grow, and helped care for, the plants shown in figures 2 & 3 (in the early 1990s). Gregory J. Anderson and Gabriel Bernardello provided the environment conducive to the birth of this project. Rene Chavez sent to Tilton Davis IV seeds of J. umbellata and T. Davis generously passed the seeds on to me, and these were grown, allowing the top two photos.

 

 

Photos by Mione of specimens borrowed from and then returned to P.