A new species of dioecious Solanum from the Australian "Dioicum Complex" of Solanum subgenus Leptostemonum is described. Solanum cowiei Martine sp. nov.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKangaroo apples, subgenus Archaesolanum, are a unique and still poorly known group within the genus Solanum. Here we aimed to reveal phylogeny, historical biogeography and age of diversification of Archaesolanum. We sampled all recognized species of the group and sequenced three chloroplast regions, the trnT-trnL spacer, trnL intron and trnL-trnF spacer to calibrate a molecular clock to estimate the age of the group.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFField and laboratory studies of 19 diclinous species endemic to Australia help to clarify the nature and evolution of andromonoecy, androdioecy, and dioecy in the genus Solanum. Ten species are andromonoecious; typically these species bear inflorescences with a single, large basal hermaphroditic flower and 12-60 distal, smaller staminate flowers. We suggest that the andromonoecious condition was derived from hermaphroditic-flowered ancestors in part by hemisterilization of flowers but largely by addition of staminate flowers.
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