Solanum imbaburense S. Knapp

Shrubs ca. 2 m tall. Stems sparsely pubescent with white, dendritic trichomes, the branches of the trichomes short; leaf scars prominent, the stem strongly winged from the decurrent leaf bases; new growth glabrous and shiny except for a few dendritic trichomes on the revolute margins of the leaves. Bark of older stems reddish-brown, glabrate. Sympodial units plurifoliate, branching dichasial. Leaves simple, 3.5–6 cm long, 1–2 cm wide, narrowly obovate to elliptic, coriaceous, the adaxial surfaces glabrous and shiny, the abaxial surfaces glabrous, with a few dendritic trichomes on the revolute margins; primary veins 6–7 pairs, strongly impressed above; base attenuate, strongly decurrent on to the petiole and from there on to the stem; margins strongly revolute; apex acute, occasionally mucronate; petiole 2–4 mm long, strongly decurrent on to the stem, not twining. Inflorescences terminal, later in the fork of the branches, 4–6 cm long, narrowly pyramidal, branching 2–3 times, with 6–10 flowers sparsely pubescent with dendritic trichomes like those of the young stems; peduncle 1.7–3 cm long; pedicels 0.9–1.2 cm long, somewhat nodding at anthesis, tapering from a basal diameter of ca. 0.5 mm to an apical diameter of ca. 1 mm, densely pubescent with erect, dendritic trichomes, articulated at the base and inserted in a sleeve ca. 1 mm long; pedicel scars closely spaced and clustered at the inflorescence branch tips. Buds obovate to elliptic, the corolla strongly exserted from the calyx tube. Flowers all perfect, 5-merous. Calyx tube ca. 3 mm long, conical, the lobes 4–5 mm long, long-triangular to acuminate, the abaxial surfaces of the lobes sparsely dendritic pubescent along the margins, the adaxial surfaces glabrous or with a few minute, glandular trichomes. Corolla 2.5–3 cm in diameter, violet, lobed 3/4 of the way to the base, the lobes 14–15 mm long, 7–8 mm wide, planar at anthesis, the abaxial surfaces of the lobes densely pubescent with dendritic trichomes, these denser along the veins, adaxially with dendritic trichomes along the petal midveins. Filament tube absent; free portion of the filaments ca. 2 mm long, glabrous; anthers ca. 4.5 mm long, 1.5 mm wide, loosely connivent, poricidal at the tips, the pores becoming slit-like with age. Ovary glabrous; style 8–9 mm long, glabrous; stigma bilobed, the surface minutely papillose. Fruit a globose berry, 1.1–1.2 cm in diameter, black when ripe, with thin pericarp; fruiting pedicels 1.8–2 cm long, ca. 1 mm in diameter at the base woody, erect. Seeds ca. 9 per berry, 3.5–4 mm long, 3.5–4 mm wide, flattened and round in outline, the surfaces minutely pitted. Chromosome number: not known.

(Figure 48). Endemic to N Ecuador; from 3500–3600 m.

Solanum imbaburense is a species of plant in the family Solanaceae. It is endemic to Ecuador.