Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal

Flora Zambesiaca. Vol. 8, Part 4. Solanaceae. Gonçalves AE. 2005

Type

Type: Linnean specimen 247.1 (LINN, lectotype, IDC microfiche neg. 136.III.5!).

General

Erect, sometimes spreading or more rarely decumbent, often bushy, herb or shrub, with usually several–many stems arising from a woody rootstock; younger parts whitish or greyish tomentose with small branched hairs, glabrescent

Pedicel

Pedicels (1)2–4(5) mm long, slender, in fruit elongated to 9 (or more) mm

Stamens

Stamens 5, scarcely exserted, glabrous; filaments 2.5–3(3.5) mm long; anthers 0.6–1 mm long, ovate-oblong in outline, the connective often apiculate Stamens 5, scarcely exserted, glabrous; filaments 2.5–3(3.5) mm long; anthers 0.6–1 mm long, ovate-oblong in outline, the connective often apiculate.

Ovary

Ovary 1–2(2.5) × 0.7–1. 5(2) mm, ovoid, glabrous.

Style

Style 2–3.5 mm long, scarcely exserted

Fruits

Fruit green turning brick-coloured, orange or red when ripe, glossy, subsessile in the erect to pendulous calyx, (5)6–10(12) mm in diameter Fruit green turning brick-coloured, orange or red when ripe, glossy, subsessile in the erect to pendulous calyx, (5)6–10(12) mm in diameter.

Seeds

Seeds 2–2.5 × 1. 5–1. 8(2.5) mm, lenticular-reniform, sometimes ovate or elliptic in outline, orange, bright red or pale brown Seeds 2–2.5 × 1.5–1.8(2.5) mm, lenticular-reniform, sometimes ovate or elliptic in outline, orange, bright red or pale brown.

Ecology

Widespread but not common on disturbed ground and roadsides, in cultivated lands, on termite mounds in grassland, in open woodland and riverine vegetation.

Note

Common name: “Winter Cherry”. Sometimes used as a medicine.

Distribution

Botswana. Mozambique Zambia Malawi BOT N, BOT SW, BOT SE, ZAM B, ZAM N, ZAM W, ZAM C, ZAM S, ZIM N, ZIM W, ZIM C, ZIM E, ZIM S, MAL C, MAL S, MOZ S, MOZ GI, MOZ M Native to the Old World subtropics, now widely distributed mainly in the drier regions, extending from Mediterranean Europe southwards through tropical Africa to South Africa and from Canary and Cape Verde Islands eastwards through the Middle East and Ara

Habit

Erect, sometimes spreading or more rarely decumbent, often bushy, herb or shrub, with usually several–many stems arising from a woody rootstock; younger parts whitish or greyish tomentose with small branched hairs, glabrescent.

Branches

Branches terete or somewhat angular, striate. Branches terete or somewhat angular, striate

Leaves

Leaves alternate or distally ± opposite; petiole 0.3–3.2 cm long, rather sheathing at the base; lamina membranous to somewhat fleshy, 2.5–17.5 × 1–7 cm, ovate to obovate, occasionally lanceolate or oblanceolate, rarely rotund, base obtuse to attenuate, occasionally rounded or truncate, and often oblique or occasionally unequal-sided, ± decurrent into the petiole, apex obtuse to acute, sometimes acuminate, entire to sinuate, whitish tomentose, becoming sparsely pubescent above and more densely so beneath especially on the nerves. Leaves alternate or distally ± opposite; petiole 0.3–3.2 cm long, rather sheathing at the base; lamina membranous to somewhat fleshy, 2.5–17.5 × 1–7 cm, ovate to obovate, occasionally lanceolate or oblanceolate, rarely rotund, base obtuse to attenuate, occasionally rounded or truncate, and often oblique or occasionally unequal-sided, ± decurrent into the petiole, apex obtuse to acute, sometimes acuminate, entire to sinuate, whitish tomentose, becoming sparsely pubescent above and more densely so beneath especially on the nerves

Flowers

Flowers (1)2–8(10) at a node, erect to nodding; pedicels (1)2–4(5) mm long, slender, in fruit elongated to 9 (or more) mm. Flowers (1)2–8(10) at a node, erect to nodding.

Calyx

Calyx 3–5.5(7) mm long, 2–3.5(4) mm across, often slightly 5- or 10-ribbed, divided to c. the middle into 5 triangular to lanceolate or sub-linear lobes 1.4–3 × 0.8–1.6 mm, tomentellous outside and on the lobes inside; in fruit papyraceous or scarious, brownish, (10)12–24 × (8)9–17 mm, urceolate or ovoid-conic, ± 5-angled and somewhat 10-ribbed, sunken at the base, ± acute, acuminate at the summit, the lobes 2–5 × 1–3 mm, somewhat glabrescent. Calyx 3–5.5(7) mm long, 2–3.5(4) mm across, often slightly 5- or 10-ribbed, divided to c. the middle into 5 triangular to lanceolate or sub-linear lobes 1. 4–3 × 0.8–1. 6 mm, tomentellous outside and on the lobes inside; in fruit papyraceous or scarious, brownish, (10)12–24 × (8)9–17 mm, urceolate or ovoid-conic, ± 5-angled and somewhat 10-ribbed, sunken at the base, ± acute, acuminate at the summit, the lobes 2–5 × 1–3 mm, somewhat glabrescent

Corolla

Corolla yellowish to greenish-white or greenish, 4–7(8) mm long, campanulate or tubular-infundibular, divided to near the middle or less, hairy with finger-like hairs on the upper part of the tube and lobes outside, also with a band of longer hairs inside above insertion of the filaments; limb 3–6.5(7) mm across; lobes 5, 1.5–3(4) × 1.3–2.5 mm, triangular or triangular-lanceolate, acute, sub-acute or sometimes acuminate. Corolla yellowish to greenish-white or greenish, 4–7(8) mm long, campanulate or tubular-infundibular, divided to near the middle or less, hairy with finger-like hairs on the upper part of the tube and lobes outside, also with a band of longer hairs inside above insertion of the filaments; limb 3–6.5(7) mm across; lobes 5, 1. 5–3(4) × 1. 3–2.5 mm, triangular or triangular-lanceolate, acute, sub-acute or sometimes acuminate

Disc

Disk 0.2–0.4 mm high. Disk 0.2–0.4 mm high

Pistil

Ovary 1–2(2.5) × 0.7–1.5(2) mm, ovoid, glabrous; style 2–3.5 mm long, scarcely exserted.

Solanaceae, H. heine. Flora of West Tropical Africa 2. 1963

Habit

Much-branched undershrub 3-7 ft. high

Flowers

Flowers small, pale.

Solanaceae, Jennifer M Edmonds. Oliganthes, Melongena & Monodolichopus, Maria S. Vorontsova & Sandra Knapp. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 2012

Type

Type: India, Tsierutti, Linnaeus 247.1 (LINN!, lecto., designated by Schönbeck-Temesy in Rechinger, Fl. Iranica, 100: 27 (1972), misprinted as LINN 241/1) [See also Jarvis, Order out of Chaos: 742 (2007)]

Habit

Annual or perennial woody herbs or shrubs, erect, spreading or decumbent, 0.3–3 m high, laxly to densely branched, sometimes strongly aromatic; main stems erect, terete, all parts (in FTEA area) tomentose to pilose with whitish-yellow branched hairs, denser on younger parts, woody parts glabrescent

Leaves

Leaves usually membranaceous, ovate to lanceolate, (2.5–)4–11(–12.5) × (1.7–)3.5–7.8 cm, bases cuneate, margins usually entire, sometimes sinuate, apices obtuse to acute, densely tomentose when young with branched hairs, denser on veins, midribs and lower surfaces; petioles (0.5–)1–2.5(–4) cm but longer outside floral area

Inflorescences

Inflorescences in compact fascicles of (3–)5–9 (–20+) flowers, axillary, epedunculate; pedicels erect to pendulous, 1–3 mm long in flower, 2–5.5 mm long in fruit, densely clustered around stem, densely tomentose; calyx cupulate to urceolate-campanulate, 2.5–5.5(–6.6) mm long overall, cup fused for 2–3.5 mm, usually actinomorphic with 5 narrowly triangular to ligulate recurved acute lobes 1–3.5 × 0.5–1.5 mm wide, densely tomentose externally

Corolla

Corolla white, yellow, green, greenish-yellow or -white, usually hermaphrodite, broadly campanulate, (3–)4.5–6.5(–8) mm long overall with tube ± 1 mm long, usually actinomorphic with five broadly triangular recurved lobes 1.5–3(–4.5) × 1–2 mm wide, densely tomentose externally

Stamens

Stamens usually exserted; filaments free for 1.3–2.5 mm; anthers yellow to orange, equal, oblong to ovoid, 0.7–1.3 mm long, apiculate

Ovary

Ovary dark brown, ovoid, 1.1–1.5 × 0.7–1.5 mm, smooth; disc greenish to brown, 1–2.4 mm diameter; style 2–3(–4.5) mm long, often exserted; stigma 0.2–0.5 mm broad

Fruits

Fruit a smooth red, orange or yellow globose berry, 5–8(–10) mm diameter, mature pericarp often thin and translucent, enclosed by enlarged chartaceous urceolate conspicuously veined usually opaque calyx 10–18(–22) × 8–12(–15) mm with the mouth almost completely closed and subtended by recurved calyx lobes 3–6(–9) × 0.5–2 mm

Seeds

Seeds yellowish to brown, orbicular or discoid, sometimes reniform, 1.3–2.3 × 1.2–1.9 mm, foveolate; sclerotic granules usually absent

Figures

Fig 28, p 228

Ecology

Acacia-Commiphora bushland, grassland, wooded grassland, forests, river-banks, lakeshores, forest edges and clearings, a weed of shambas, bomas, old cultivations, fallow land, waste and disturbed places; may be locally common; 0–2300 m(– 2800 m fide

Conservation

Widespread; least concern (LC)

Note

All the characters given in the protologue of W. chevalieri overlap with those found in W. somnifera, with the exception of the style being 0.5 mm shorter. Thulin too (2002) thought that Gonçalves’ new species was a variable form of W. somnifera with smaller flowers and fruiting calyces. The species is very variable morphologically and especially vegetatively. Hunziker (in Gen. Solanaceae: 264, 2001) described it as being polymorphic, while Hepper (1991) noted that many herbarium specimens were intermediate between W. somnifera and W. obtusifolia, though he maintained them as separate species. Abedin et al. (in Pakistan J. Bot. 23: 279, 1991) while conceding that the features distinguishing the latter two taxa overlapped, thought that the variability warranted subspecific recognition in the Saudi Arabian region. Brenan & Greenway (in T.T.C.L., 1949) described the occurrence of W. aristata (Ait.) Pauq. In forests above 1680 m in the Usambaras. Their description of the inflorescences as having solitary or clustered flowers with aristate calyx lobes could indicate the occurrence of this species at high altitudes. However, this species seems to be confined to the Canary Islands, and Hepper (1991) thought that this together with W. frutescens were unlike the other species in the genus. Since no specimens examined during this revision were encountered which matched the morphological characteristics of W. aristata, it has not been included in this account. The typification of this species was discussed by Thulin (2002) who concluded that the Indian locality given on LINN 247.1 is correct despite the protologue including “Mexico” – where it has never been recorded – together with “Crete and Spain”.

Distribution

Flora districts: U1 U2 U3 U4 K1 K2 K3 K4 K5 K6 K7 T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 Range: Also found throughout southern Europe and the Arabian Peninsula to India, Sri Lanka and China Range: Widespread in Africa