Brunfelsia plowmaniana
| Brunfelsia plowmaniana | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Asterids |
| Order: | Solanales |
| Family: | Solanaceae |
| Genus: | Brunfelsia |
| Species: | B. plowmaniana |
| Binomial name | |
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Brunfelsia plowmaniana N.Filipowicz & M.Nee |
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Brunfelsia plowmaniana is a species of flowering plant of the nightshade family that is native to the cloud forests of the Bolivian and Argentinian Andes. It was first described in 2012 on the basis of systematic DNA barcoding of specimens from the genus Brunfelsia. Specimens belonging to the new species had previously been placed in the polymorphic species B. uniflora, which a molecular phylogeny revealed as polyphyletic.
The species was named in honor of the American botanist Timothy Plowman (1944-1989) who had worked on neotropical plants of ethnobotanic importance and provided the first and only comprehensive taxonomic treatments of the genus Brunfelsia.
The new species differs from all other species of Brunfelsia at several nucleotide positions in the plastid ndhF gene and in the nuclear internal transcribed spacer region.
The shrubs or small trees mostly have a single stem of up to 14 cm in diameter at the base, and they branch only above the base, typically 1–4 m and sometimes up to 10 m high. The bark is peeling or flaking, light gray or yellow-brown. Branches with the new twigs are densely covered with up to 0.3 mm long hairs, whereas the older branches exhibit a smooth and glabrous bark. Internodes range from 4–12 mm.
The shiny and dark green leaves are scattered along the branchlets and often also covered with hairs, especially on younger twigs. They vary in size and shape, but are usually widest above the middle with a rather abruptly narrowed apex, similar to many Myrtaceae. The raised and somewhat cartilaginous ring of the corolla throat is reminiscent of that of species of Prestonia (Apocynaceae) from the same geographic region; it probably reflects adaptation to pollinator foraging behaviour. Nothing is known directly of the pollinators, but the floral features described above are shared by other South American brunfelsias for which butterfly pollination has been observed. The stomata are paracytic.
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