Lycianthes rantonnetii

Lycianthes rantonnetii

Lycianthes rantonnetii ( syn. Solanum rantonnetii ) is a species of the genus Lycianthes in the nightshade family (Solanaceae ). The often drawn as an ornamental plant is sometimes referred to as gentian shrub or tree potato.

Description

Vegetative characteristics

The plants of the species Lycianthes rantonnetii are non-reinforced shrubs with a height of up to 2 m. The branches are slender and have gone in an eye-catching angle of the node. Internodes have a length of about 5 cm. The branches are slightly pubescent, later balding. The coat consists mainly of simple trichomes, only a small part of the trichomes is branched.

The leaves are thin, entire or scharfspitzig and provided with only slightly wavy margin. They are hardly hairy and are on short petioles. The larger leaves are usually 5 to 7 cm long and 3 to 4 cm long, but occasionally they are also twice as large to.

Inflorescences and flowers

The flowers are terminal or in the axils in clusters of one to five flowers. The slender flower stalks are 3-4 cm long. The calyx is 2-3 mm long, is cut at the edge and thus forms one to five pointed teeth, which are sometimes hunched and one to five bumps or swelling associated with the calyx teeth alternately. The deep blue to violet crown is drawn in the middle clear with a yellow eye. It has a diameter of about 3.5 to 4 cm, the Blütensaum wide corrugated and the edge. The stamens are 1-3 mm long, strong and slightly at the base, finely hairy towards the anthers. The strong dust bags are 2-4 mm long and open large pores, which are located at the top of the dust bag. The pollen grains are 17 to 23 microns in size. The stylus is bent above the anthers, the ovary is glabrous.

Fruits

The fruit is red, heart shaped berries, with a diameter of 20 to 35 mm. They often contain more than 25 stone body ( sclerosomes ).

Botanical history

The species was first described in 1859 by Élie -Abel Carrière as Solanum rantonnetii. For a long time it was mistakenly referred to as Solanum rantonnetii, but Carrière chose in the Romanization of the name " M. Rantonnet " variant Rantonneus and not Rantonnetius, which is the French pronunciation of the name. 1919 arranged Georg Bitter to the species of the genus Lycianthes, which was often subordinated to the nightshade (Solanum ), but now as an independent genus closer to the peppers ( Capsicum ) is provided as to the nightshade.