Manihot Manihotoides (Euphorbiaceae) - CNCFlora

Systematic Position of the Genus 117
Nov 1926. Cundinamarca: Triana s n (BM-2, G, K, P) Tequendama Rio Seco, Valle du Magdalena,
1853. Province Unknown/Uncertain: Dugand 46 (F), 6 Aug 1932; Espina 59 (F) Santa Marta Region,
1931. VENEZUELA. Zulia: Plee 64 (P) Maracaybo. Falcon: Lasser & Aristequieta 3319 (VEN)
Paraguana, Dec 1953. Nueva Esparta: Croizat s n (F) La Asuncion, Island of Margarita, Sep 1948.
Yaracuy: Pittier 11761 (K, M, NY, P, US, VEN) between Yaritagua and Urachiche, Yaracuy, 10 Apr
1925. Aragua: Aristiguieta & Saldivias 542 (VEN) La Cienega, Orumare de La Costa, Aragua, 19 Mar
1951. Distrito Federal: Aristeguieta 4701 (VEN) near Arrecife, Jun 1961; Rogers 494 (F-2, G-2, K-2,
MEXU, NY-3, US, W) 18 km W of Arrecife, on Caribbean Coast, 26 Feb 1962. Sucre: Funck 607
(OXF) Cumana; Funcke 607 (K) Cumana; Steyermark & Agostini 91228 (VEN) Peninsula de Paria,
Puerto de Hierro, colinas semixerofiticas a la base del Cerro, Jul 1962. Merida: Jahn 1000 (GH, US,
VEN) Lagunillas, 13 Mar 1922. Bolivar: Aristeguieta 2234 (NY, VEN) Ciudad Piar, Apr 1954.
Province Unknown/Uncertain: Curran & Haman 462 (GH, US) Vela de Coro, 2 Apr 1917. TRINIDAD
TOBAGO. Patos Island: Broadway 7202 (F, NY, S, US) road to Flagstaff, 9 Jun 1929; Williams s n
(NY) Trinidad, 25 Jun 1917; Williams 12516 (NY) Trinidad, 9 May 1931.
LOCAL NAMES. Boracher (Curran & Haman 462); yuca antigua (Dugand & Jaramillo
3231); yuca cimarrona (Dugand 46); yuca de monte (Dugand 4654); yuca escussonera
(Espina 59); yuca sylvestre (Rogers 494).
The history of the nomenclature of this species, first established by Jacquin in 1763,
was confused by transfers from the genus Jatropha to Janipha by H. B. K., 1817, by
recognition (by several authors incl. Linnaeus, 1771, and others) of Janipha frutescens as
a separate, distinct species name given by Loefling, in 1758, and by the transfer of
Jatropha janipha L. to Manihot janipha by Pohl.
Mueller von Argau in de Candolle, Prodromus (1866), clarified the issue by
recognizing that Loefling had not designated his plant with a separate species name,
"frutescens," but that Loefling had merely used the term frutescens as a part of a
description of a plant collected in Cumana (Venezuela). Pax (1910) first recognized that
Janipha H. B. K. was wholly synonymous with Manihot although Pohl and other authors
had earlier transferred species of Janipha to Manihot.
Manihot carthaginensis grows on the drier coastal islands near Trinidad, westward
along the north shore of S. America to Colombia. Its variable leaf form, common among
many species of Manihot, caused much nomenclatural confusion and no doubt influenced
the acceptance of Loefling's illegitimate name. Many plants of Manihot from Mexico and
Central America have been misidentified by botanists as M. carthaginensis.
Pohl (1827) redesignated Jatropha janipha Lour. (1793) as Manihot loureirii Pohl.
Pax (1910) noted thatM. loureirii Pohl was probably a synonym of M. carthaginensis. We
have placed M. loureirii Pohl (and Jatropha janipha Lour.) as synonyms of M. esculenta
because of the extreme unlikelihood that M. carthaginensis would be found in southeast
Asia, and that M. esculenta was probably already an accepted cultigen in that area by that
time.
The confused nomenclature is indicative of the variability within the species. It is
probable that several ecotypic variations are discernable, but the herbarium material is
sufficiently fragmentary to make decisions difficult.
Manihot carthaginensis may play a role in plant breeding with M. esculenta, provided
the breeder is seeking draught resistant cultivars, because the habitat of the species is the
dry, xerophytic shrub zone immediately adjacent to the Caribbean Sea along the north
coast of South America. Manihot carthaginensis is a very distinct species whose nearest
relative is M. annisophylla.
37. Manihot filamentosa Pittier, Jour. Wash. Acad. 20: 11. 1930.
Shrubs 2.0- 3.0 m tall, with a tendency to be decumbent. Root system extensively
spreading laterally, usually more than 3.0 m long horizontally. Stems glabrous. Leaves
alternate; stipules setaceous, ca 1.0 cm long, margin denticulate, glabrous, caducous;