Solanum pseudoamericanum Särkinen, P. Gonzáles & S. Knapp

Herb with woody base, 20–50 cm tall, the individual stems to 1 m long and sprawling. Stems terete or somewhat angled with ridges, pubescent with simple uniseriate 1–4-celled trichomes often clustered along the stem angles; new growth densely pubescent with appressed 1–4-celled simple uniseriate trichomes 0.2–0.8 mm long. Sympodial units difoliate, not geminate. Leaves simple, 4.5–12(–15) cm long, 1.8–8 cm wide, ovate to elliptic; adaxial surface sparsely pubescent with more or less appressed 1-4-celled translucent simple uniseriate trichomes, these denser along the veins; abaxial surface more densely pubescent with simple uniseriate trichomes like those of the upper surface; primary veins 5–8 pairs; base acute and decurrent on the petiole; margins entire or occasionally with shallow lobes in the basal third; apex acute; petiole 0.5–2.5(–5) cm long, occasionally narrowly winged, sparsely pubescent with simple uniseriate trichomes like those of the stems and leaves. Inflorescences lateral and intermodal, 1–2.5 cm long, simple or once-branched, with 3–5(9) flowers, sparsely pubescent with appressed 1–2-celled simple uniseriate trichomes; peduncle 0.4–1.6 cm long, if the inflorescence branched then the peduncle rachis 0.4–0.6 cm long; pedicels 0.6–0.7 cm long, ca. 0.3 mm in diameter at the base and apex, straight and spreading, articulated at the base; pedicel scars spaced ca. 1 mm apart. Buds globose, the corolla only exserted from the calyx tube just before anthesis. Flowers 5-merous, all perfect; calyx tube ca. 1 mm long, the lobes 0.5–0.7 mm long with rounded apices, sparsely pubescent with 1–4-celled translucent simple uniseriate trichomes; corolla 5–6 mm in diameter, stellate, white with a yellow central portion near the base, lobed slightly less than halfway to the base, the lobes ca. 1.5 mm long, 2 mm wide, strongly reflexed at anthesis, later spreading, densely pubescent abaxially with 1–4-celled simple uniseriate trichomes, these usually shorter than the trichomes of the stems and leaves; filament tube minute, pubescent with tangled uniseriate trichomes adaxially; free portion of the filaments ca. 1 mm long, pubescent like the tube; anthers ellipsoid, yellow, ca. 1.5 mm long, 0.7–0.8 mm wide; ovary conical, glabrous; style 3–4 mm long, exserted (0.5)1–2 mm beyond the anther cone, densely pubescent with 2–3-celled simple uniseriate trichomes at the base; stigma globose and capitate, minutely papillate, bright green in live plants. Fruit a globose berry, 4–9 mm in diameter, green at maturity or green and turning purplish black when ripe, the surface not markedly shiny, lacking stone cells aggregates; fruiting pedicels 4–7 mm long, ca. 1 mm in diameter at the base, spreading and becoming somewhat more woody in fruit, usually remaining on the plant after fruit drops; fruiting calyx lobes spreading or appressed to the berry, not reflexed. Seeds 35–45 per berry, 1.2–1.5 mm long, 0.9–1 mm wide, flattened-reniform, yellowish, the surfaces minutely pitted, the testal cells pentagonal in outline.

Endemic to Peru in the upper zones of seasonally dry tropical forests or in mid-elevation montane forests, usually above 2,000 m elevation, with only some overlap between the closely related Solanum americanum that occurs from sea level to 2,200 m in elevation; commonly growing in sandy soils in full sun or partial shade in disturbed sites such as landslides and roadsides or cultivated areas, often in moist depressions in otherwise dry areas, associated with Schinus molle L., Aspidosperma polyneuron Müll. Arg., Eriotheca sp., Vachellia macracantha (Humb. & Bonpl.) Seigler & Ebinger, Alnus acuminata Kunth, Solanum probolospermum Bitter, and Calceolaria spp.; (930-)1700–3200(-3735) m in elevation. Based on field and herbarium collections Solanum pseudoamericanum occurs in the Departments of Amazonas, Ancash, Apurímac, Cajamarca, Cusco, La Libertad, and Piura, but based on the modelled habitat suitability map (Fig. 2) it is also likely to also occur in the Departments of Lambayeque, Huánuco, Huancavelica, Ayacucho, Junín, southwestern San Martín, northernmost areas of Lima, and in the Province of Loja in Ecuador.