Is Solanum ferox var. ferox (Solanaceae) extinct?

In 1995 I wrote letters to over 50 people (botanists, agricultural scientists, and former students of Indiana University) in south-eastern Asia trying to obtain a few seeds of Solanumferox L. var. ferox (S. involucratum Blume). I had over 25 replies, five of which included seeds, but none of the seeds produced plants that proved to be S. ferox var. ferox. At one time this variety was known from southern Thailand (Kerr, 1954), northern Peninsular Malaysia (Ridley, 1923), Indonesia, mainly Java, Madura (Backer & Bakhuizen van den Brink f., 1965), Bali, and Christmas Island. Recently S. ferox has been treated in some detail by Hasan & Jansen (1994) who recognize both wild and cultivated forms, which are used as food and in medicine. Accepting their treatment, Heiser (1996) proposed the name S. ferox var. ferox, for the typical element in which the fruits are completely enclosed by the prickly calyx and S. ferox var. lasiocarpum (Dunal) Miq. for plants where the calyx, usually non-prickly, does not cover the fruit.