YASIN J. NASIR
Solanum villosum (L.) Moench
Fl. Per.: Mostly throughout the year.
Lectotype: Hb. Linn. 248/19 (LINN), fide Edmonds (in Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 78.214. 1979).
Distribution: Cosmopolitan, absent from the Arctic and subarctic regions of the both hemisphere.
The var. villosum is more common than the type variety. The orange to orange-red berried plants have been treated by most European authors as good species (i.e. Solanum luteum, Solanum alatum). In local populations here (at least in the material studied) there appears to be no satisfactory treatment to segregate the glandular-hairy forms with terete stems (i.e. Solanum luteum) from those with subglabrous to pubescent parts with stems ± rigid or angled (i.e. Solanum alatum).
The following specimens studied are of an intermediary nature: Dadar, Y. Nasir 6833; Kaghozi gorges, F. Schmid 2394; Sialkot, Marala Barrage, Y. & I. Nasir 7540; Hanna Lake, 1.9.1980, Farrukh & Dasti s.n. In these specimens the indument is that of Solanum alatum (appressed pubescent) along with mixed erect glandular hairs as that of Solanum luteum. One specimen (Kalapani, Hazara, Y. Nasir 6367) is dense glandular hairy as the latter, but the peduncles do not exceed the pedicel length. As earlier mentioned, hybridisation studies by Tandon and Rao (1966) & Rao, Khan & Khan (1971), have shown that the characters used for delimitation are often not clearcut. The species Solanum luteum is therefore considered here as synonymous with Solanum nigrum var. villosum Pojark.
Schoenbeck-Temesy (l.c. 10) records the occurence of Solanum olgae Pojark. from Pakistan. From the material that she cites from Pakistan, and which I have examined, it appears that these specimens are referable to the var. villosum.