SOLANUM NEOWEBERBAUERI Wittm., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 50 (Suppl.) 540, Figs. 1–2. 1914.

Solanum medians f. neoweberbaueri (Wittm.) Correll, Wrightia 2: 191. 1961.

— TYPE: PERU. Lima: Morro Salar, near Chorrillos, 250 m, in rocky places in a formation called loma, 21 Aug 1910, Weberbauer 568 9 (holotype: B, destroyed, photo and fragment, F!, photos of B holotype: G! MO! NY!; lectotype, designated by Ochoa, 1999, pg. 840: F!, photos [Correll neg. 724]: LL! NY! UC!, isolectotypes: GH! US 144889! US 1444890!, photo of GH isolectotype [Correll neg. 725]: F! GH! MO! NY! UC!, photo of US 1444889 isolectotype [Correll neg. 723]: LL! MO! NY! UC!, photo of US 1444890 isolectotype [Correll neg. 721]: LL! NY! PTIS! UC!).

Plants 0.2–0.5 m tall, herbaceous, terrestrial, erect. Stems 2–6 mm in diameter at base of plant, subglabrous to sparsely pubescent, light to dark green and rarely tinged with purple. Pseudostipules minute to 12 mm long, lunate. Leaves 7–16.6 cm long, 4–10 cm wide, odd-pinnate, pubescent as the stems, light green; petioles 1.0–3.0 cm long; lateral leaflet pairs 1–3, slightly to greatly subequal and decreasing in size to the base; most distal lateral leaflets 1.8–6.5 cm long, 0.5–2.8 cm wide, narrowly to broadly ovate, the apex acute to acuminate, the base typically sessile and short decurrent on the basiscopic side to more rarely short petiolulate; terminal leaflet 1.7–8.5 cm long, 0.8–3.5 cm wide, narrowly to broadly ovate, the apex typically acute to acuminate, the base attenuate; interjected leaflets 0–2, sessile to short petiolulate, ovate to orbicular. Inflorescences generally in distal half of plant; peduncle 3–8.5 cm long. Flowers 2–25; pedicels 2–6.5 mm long, articulate typically above the middle; calyx 6–7 mm long, the lobes linear to long-attenuate, the acumens 2–3 mm long; corolla 2.7–4.7 cm in diameter, pentagonal to rotate, the acumens 1.5–2.0 mm long, edges of corolla flat, not folded dorsally, white to blue to lilac with a white star or white and blue mottled above and below; anthers 5–7 mm long, connate; style 8–9 mm long, exceeding stamens by 3–5 mm, straight, stigma clavate to capitate. Ovaries not maturing to fruits. Chromosome number 2 n = 3 x = 36 (Spooner & Salas 2006; Hijmans et al. 2007). Figure 7.

Phenology— Flowering and fruiting along the coast in October.

Distribution (Fig. 6)— Central Peru (Department of Lima) in the coastal lomas, growing among rocks, often on slopes, in sandy or rocky soils, 200– 750 m. elevation.

Specimens Examined— PERU. Lima: Lomas Manzano, cerca pueblo Pachacamac, al SSE de Lima, 25 Oct 1958, 200– 300 m, C. M. Ochoa 1807 (GH, US); 1808 (GH, US); 2163 (K, US); Lima, Lomas de Atosisa, unos 35 km al SSE de Lima y al E del pueblo de Pachacamac, 21 Jul 1971, 300 m, C. M. Ochoa 3035 (US); Lima, San Bartolo, lomas al E de San Bartolo, entrando por el km 58 de la carretera Panamericana Sur, 21 Oct 1976, 350 m, C. M. Ochoa 11248 (GH, US, USM); Cañete, Quilmaná, Lomas de Quilmaná, 10 km al N de Cañete, 26 Oct 1976, 350 m, C. M. Ochoa & A. Salas 11252 (GH, US, USM); Cañete, lomas, cerca de la Mina Condestable, unos 5 km al E de Bujama Baja, entre Mala y Asia, al S de Lima, Oct 1976, 600 m, C. M. Ochoa 11272 (MOL, US); Cañete, lomas, cerca de la Mina Condestable, unos 5 km al E de Bujama Baja, entre Mala y Asia, Oct 1976, 600 m, C. M. Ochoa 11273 (F, GH, MOL, NY, US, USM); Huarochirí, lomas, cerca de la Mina Huarochirí, unos 5 km entrando al pueblo de Lurín, hacia el E, al S de Lima, 22 Oct 1982, 750 m, C. M. Ochoa 14860 (US).

Solanum neoweberbaueri is similar to S. medians, but it differs by its subglabrous to sparsely pubescent leaves and calyx; the pedicels, which are typically articulate in the middle or slightly below the middle; and the corollas, which are pure white to white and mottled blue or blue to purple with a white star. All populations are sterile. Ochoa (1999) postulated that S. neoweberbaueri is a sterile triploid nothospecies resulting from hybridization of S. medians and S. chancayense Ochoa, a sympatric white-flowered species. Solanum chancayense is unrelated to S. medians as it is a member of plastid clade 3, not clade 4 of Spooner and Castillo (1997). Ochoa (1999) may be correct in the hybrid origin of S. neoweberbaueri but we consider its hybrid origin speculative at present and do not designate it as a nothospecies.