Solanum leprosum Ortega, Nov. Pl. Descr. Dec. 115. 1800

Ind. loc.: “ Habitat in Regno Chilensi. Floret in Horto R. Matrit. Septembri et Octobri è seminibus missis per D. Neè ”.

Neotype, designated here: MA 334600; possible isotypes MA 334600/2, MA 334600/3.

Current accepted name: Solanum elaeagnifolium Cav.

I found several sheets filed as S. leprosum in MA (MA 334600, MA 334584, MA 3334600/2, MA 334600/3); of these only MA 334600 (the 3 sheets) are potential neotype material, as MA 334584 does not match the protologue in being from Mexico (“Nee iter, Nueva Espana”) and being non-prickly version (prickles are mentioned in the protologue). The three sheets of MA 334600 are probably from the same plant; their morphology is all very similar. All are labelled as S. leprosum Ortega; MA 334600/2 with “ Solanum leprosum Ortega, Ex. Hort. Matri. 1800 ” in the hand of José Demetrio Rodriguez, MA 334600/3 as “ Solanum leprosum Ortega decade/” in an unknown hand, and MA 334600 as “ Solanum leprosum Ortega ” in what is probably the hand of Rodriguez, but without a date. MA 334600 is the best preserved sheet and has a bud and two flowers clearly showing the declinate style mentioned in the protologue and is chosen here as the neotype (Fig. 1c). All of these specimens are clearly identifiable as S. elaeagnifolium, described by Cavanilles five years earlier, also from material collected in Chile by Luis Née, the botanist on the Malaspina Expedition (1789-1794; Muñoz Garmendia, 1992) that circumnavigated the globe and sent many novelties back to Spain for cultivation in the Jardín Botánico.