 Photo: M.Fagg © M.Fagg |
 Photo: M.Fagg © ANBG (A2266) |
 Line drawing by M. Szent Ivany, J. Adelaide Bot. Gards 4 (1981) 256, fig 113. |
 From Curtis's Botanical Magazine t. 3672 (1839). |
 Detail from Curtis's Botanical Magazine t. 3672 (1839). |
 Distribution map generated from Australia's Virtual Herbarium. |
Synonymy
Solanum campanulatum R. Br., Prodr. 446 (1810)
T: Grose R., N.S.W., 1803-1805, R. Brown s.n.; lecto: BM; iso: K, MEL, ?MPU, fide D.E. Symon, J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. 4: 256 (1981).
An image of the lectotype specimen of S. campanulatum can be seen on the Solanaceae Source site.
Description
Erect, clonal perennial herb to 1 m, often suckering, silvery-green, rarely rusty-green, densely pubescent with stellate hairs; prickles 2–5 mm long, usually on stems, less common elsewhere.
Leaves oblong-lanceolate to oblong; lamina 2.5–10 cm long, 1–3 cm wide, sometimes larger, slightly discolorous, entire (upper leaves) to shallowly lobed (lower leaves); petiole 5–10 mm long.
Inflorescence 1–4–flowered; peduncle 5–10 mm long; rachis 20–30 mm long; pedicels c. 10 mm long, lengthened in fruit. Calyx 9–10 mm long, enlarged in fruit; tube 5–ribbed; lobes awl-shaped, 4–5 mm long. Corolla rotate-stellate, 20–30 mm diam., blue, rarely white, pink or deep purple. Anthers 5–8 mm long.
Berry depressed globular, 8–14 mm diam., orange-brown; fruiting pedicels 20–30 mm long. Seeds 2.5–4 mm long, light brown. n=12.
Distribution and ecology
Occurs in the Great Dividing Range in N.S.W. and south-eastern Qld.
Relationships
Symon (1981) placed S. campanulatum in a separate section from the rest of the Australian andromonoecious species. However the DNA studies of Martine et al. (2006, 2009) indicate that while S. campanulatum is not aligned with most of these species it does form a group with two other difficult to place andromonoecious species, S. cinereum and S. stupefactum .
Considered by Bean (2004) to be a member of the S. hystrix group of subgen. Leptostemonum.
References: Martine, C.T., D. Vanderpool, G.J. Anderson, and D.H. Les (2006). Phylogenetic relationships of andromonoecious and dioecious Australian species of Solanum subgenus Leptostemonum section Melongena: Inferences from ITS sequence data. Systematic Botany 31: 410-420; Martine, C.T., G.J. Anderson & D.H. Les (2009). Gender-bending aubergines; molecular phylogenetics of cryptically dioecious Solanum in Australia. Australian Systematic Botany 22: 107-120.
Notes
An andromonoecious species i.e. one in which there are male flowers and bisexual flowers on the one plant. Often there are many male flowers in an inflorescence with 1(-2) bisexual flowers at their base.
Selected specimens
N.S.W.: 20 km NNE of Rylstone, R. Coveny 10519 & P. Hind (BRI, NSW); Culoul Range, A. Rodd 413 (AD, NSW).
From the web
There is further information on S. campanulatum at PlantNet
Images of early herbarium collections of this species by Robert Brown, George Caley and William Paterson can be seen on the Solanaceae Source site.