menos angulosas, las flores verduscas en glomérulos 
opuestos a las ultimas y los frutos ovoideos, grandes y 
comestibles. Es del Alto Orinoco.” Sturtevant (*‘Stur- 
tevant’s notes on edible plants’’ [ed. U. P. Hedrick}, 
(1919) 545) had reported Solanum Topiro,a species grow- 
ing on the ‘‘banks of the Orinoco,” as having an edible 
fruit known as the ‘‘turkey berry,” attributing his 
sources to G. Don Hist. Dichl. Pls. 4 (1888) 410. 
Anexcellent photograph of the type of Solanum To- 
piro trom the Paris Herbarium enabled me to authenti- 
cate the identification. The type, from the Humboldt 
and Bonpland Herbarium, was collected at San Fernando 
de Atabapo on the Rio Orinoco, Venezuela (AZumboldt 
et Bonpland 918). Vhere is, further, in Paris a reproduc- 
tion of an unpublished drawing of Solanum Topiro (No. 
192) for Dunal’s Solanaceae, ed. 2. There can be no 
doubt that cocona from Peru and the /i/o from Amazon- 
ian Colombia refer to the same species as fopiro in Vene- 
zuela and that all three are So/anuwm Topiro. We are now 
able to offer an amplified description and extended dis- 
tribution for this species, as well as sundry ethnobotan- 
ical notes appertaining to its cultivation and use. 
Solanum Topiro Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth ev 
Dunal Sol. gen. aff. syn. (1816) 10. 
ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION : 
37. S. Topiro. S. caule herbaceo tomentoso, foliis ovato-oblongis 
sinuatis basi inaequalibus subtus leviter tomentosis supra sericeis, 
floribus aggregatis extra-axillaribus, baccis ovatis.— Humb, et Bonpl. 
ined.— Dun. Sol, Ed. 2 ined. tab, 921 f. 1 Hab. ad Orenocum (v.s.h. 
H. et B.). 
Shrub unarmed, robust, rank,up to about 5 feet (1.5m. ) 
tall. Branches stout, terete, scurfy-pubescent, grey-green 
in life. "Twigs densely white-stellate-tomentose. Leaves 
coarsely membranaceous, ovate in outline, at maturity 
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