# Colombian Solanaceae Mystery Vine



## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

So I borrowed Wim's flower photos (hope that's alright) and sent them to a friend at Selby Botanical Garden. He did some digging and came up with 2 possible IDs...

Solanum evolvulifolium and Solanum loxophyllum. The species names need to be checked against the Field Museum Guides.

Figured I'd start a thread so that we could keep all the info in one place. 

The plant in question incase there's any questions. I'll let Wim post the flower photos himself since they are his property.


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

Great, now that I dont grow it we know what it is! 


Pretty cool to have the "mystery vine" no longer a mystery. Wish Manuran was on line to appreciate/comment


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

Found some images of Solanum evolvulifolium 

Tropical Plant Guides

Tropical Plant Guides

Tropical Plant Guides

The flowers look close. Need to find photos of S. loxophyllum.


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

Herbarium specimens of Solanum loxophyllum.

Neotropical Herbarium Specimens

Neotropical Herbarium Specimens

The foliage pressed and dried heavily resembles the mystery vine.


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

So apparently, these two names are considered synonymous. Hmmm...

Tropicos | Name - Solanum loxophyllum Bitter


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

Wow...


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

the leaf variability is pretty insane for this species


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## Wim van den Berg (Mar 5, 2012)

Frogtofall said:


> So I borrowed Wim's flower photos (hope that's alright) and sent them to a friend at Selby Botanical Garden. He did some digging and came up with 2 possible IDs...
> 
> Solanum evolvulifolium and Solanum loxophyllum. The species names need to be checked against the Field Museum Guides.
> 
> ...


Thanks ,Antone , great to have connections that leads to more clarity


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## aspidites73 (Oct 2, 2012)

I remember Chuck saying he thought it was Solanum evolvulifolium. He may have even suggested a higher level of certainty. I am looking for the post and will update when I find it.


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## aspidites73 (Oct 2, 2012)

Chuck's post:

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/782970-post28.html


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## epiphytes etc. (Nov 22, 2010)

Your link takes me to a build thread by Kyle.


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

The link works great for me- takes me right to Chucks post where he indeed seems to have positively ID'd the species


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

His post wasn't a positive conformation but rather a strong suspicion that it might be S. evolvulifolium. 

At this point I am not comfortable calling it that or S. loxophyllum. Not until we get someone who actually has a formal background in the family and can examine some flowers in person.

At this point my plant will be labeled, Solanum cf. evolvulifolium.


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## aspidites73 (Oct 2, 2012)

I agree on the positive part. My point is that Chuck, at the time of his post, did not know the flower of it yet, he still concluded one of the same 2 we have narrowed it down to, having seen the flower. If those two are synonymous then i'd say it is solved. cf. the absolute lowest level of certainty.



Frogtofall said:


> His post wasn't a positive conformation but rather a strong suspicion that it might be S. evolvulifolium.
> 
> At this point I am not comfortable calling it that or S. loxophyllum. Not until we get someone who actually has a formal background in the family and can examine some flowers in person.
> 
> At this point my plant will be labeled, Solanum cf. evolvulifolium.


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

cf is not the lowest level of certainty. It simply means that the plant in question compares favorably to the species listed. Which this does exactly that. It could be labeled as aff evolvulifolium but that just means it's related to the species but you're not sure what it is but you're saying its different. We know what it's related to but we can't confirm 100% yet which is why I prefer to label my plant cf due to the fact it's very obviously close to S. evolvulifolium.

In my opinion it would be irresponsible to label it 100% S. evolvulifolium at this point and since none of us here are Solanaceae experts, my plant will stay that way until we get input from an expert in the field.


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## jckee1 (Mar 22, 2011)

Here is a picture of the two Solanums side by side.

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk 2


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## JoshH (Feb 13, 2008)

I am happy with that tentative ID ;-)

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/plants/88397-diary-amateur-botanist-quest-answer.html#post782838


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

JoshH said:


> I am happy with that tentative ID ;-)
> 
> http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/plants/88397-diary-amateur-botanist-quest-answer.html#post782838


The author of that paper you mentioned in that thread did spend some time at Selby. Perhaps just maybe I could see if someone from Selby could contact him on our behalf to get his input. I'm not promising anything but I will give it a shot.


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

Just a small update: I got a hold of my friend at Selby. He's going to send an email to the person in the paper from a Selby email account to see if we get a response. He's also reaching out to someone at NYBG who's familiar with the family.

We will get this confirmed sooner or later. I won't give up.


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## toksyn (Mar 5, 2011)

Thank you, Antone! This is an awesome development!


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## jckee1 (Mar 22, 2011)

Well we all know how bad my phone pics are but I thought this might interested some people. Here are leaves for comparison of the two Colombian Solanums and the Panamanian one keeping in mind that the leaves can be different under different growing conditions.

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk 2


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

You really need a better camera.... Haha!


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## readygrown (Apr 5, 2008)

That's one of his better pictures..jajaja


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## Dendrobait (May 29, 2005)

Sorry to pull this off topic but some cultivation questions.

Growth rate?

Moisture/humidity?(I've found them pretty sensitive-have a few cuttings sphag in a bag after putting them in viv and the leaves getting droopy)

True epiphyte or should it be started on ground level and allowed to climb?


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## jckee1 (Mar 22, 2011)

They need moisture. They wilt very quickly and are very hard to bring back. I have had best success in aquariums with a glass top. I also have one of the old FCA cubes which is perfect for these types of plants. Wish I had more of them. If they are happy they will grow quite quickly almost taking over the tank.

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk 2


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## DragonSpirit1185 (Dec 6, 2010)

I guess it never got updated but it's being called Solanum evolvulifolium


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