Kingdom Plantae Family Solanaceae Rank Species | Order Solanales Genus Iochroma | |
Similar Iochroma grandiflorum, Physaleae, Iochroma fuchsioides, Vassobia, Iochroma cyaneum | ||
Iochroma cardenasianum is a spiny, leafy shrub with a yellow trumpet-shaped campanulate flower, measuring some 3 cm long and bearing globose fruit. The growth habit is somewhat reminiscent of certain Lycium species. It is endemic to Bolivia, growing in dry, Andean valleys at altitudes of 2,000–2,500 m and 3,000–3,500 m and has been collected near the town of Cotagaita in Potosí Department. Recent research has revealed that, far from being a species of Iochroma, it does not even belong in tribe Physaleae (to which Iochroma belongs), constituting instead an (as yet unnamed) monotypic genus in tribe Datureae, and thus is most closely related to the genera Datura and Brugmansia, species of which are well known as ornamentals and hallucinogens, owing their activity to tropane alkaloid content. The specific name 'cardenasianum' commemorates eminent Bolivian scientist Martín Cárdenas (1899–1973).