Manihot Manihotoides (Euphorbiaceae) - CNCFlora

14 Flora Neotropica
TABLE I (continued)
41. Size of fruits (base to apex)
1. very small, less than 0.75 cm
2. small, 0.75-1.25 cm
3. medium, 1.25-1.75 cm
4. large, 1.75-2.5 cm
5. very large, greater than 2.5 cm
42. Fruit surface
1. smooth Fig 36D
2. perceptably ribbed (No picture available)
3. prominently ribbed Fig 120B
43. Shape of fruit apex
1. rounded
2. slightly pointed
3. prominently pointed
4. depressed
44. Seed size
1. small, round, less than 1.0 cm
2. small, oblong, less than 1.0 cm
3. medium, round, 1.0-1.5 cm
4. medium, oblong, 1.0-1.5 cm
5. large, round, 1.5-2.0 cm
6. large, oblong, 1.5-2.0 cm
7. very large, oblong, greater than 2.0 cm
to be discovered in the roots. Primarily, the species have a tap root (which may be
enlarged with storage tissue), secondary roots, and adventitious roots either enlarged or
slender and tapering. Species of the dryer regions frequently have woody roots, and a
root crown from which new stems are produced when growing conditions are
satisfactory. Adventitious roots from cuttings in the species M. esculenta provide the
major carbohydrate food supply to millions of tropical people. All roots so far examined
contain, in addition to large quantities of starch, varying concentrations of a cyanogenic
glucoside which, upon autolysis, releases gaseous HCN. Refer to Rogers and Fleming
(1973) and DeBruijn (1971) for more details on the roots of M. esculenta, and Rogers
and Appan (in press) for descriptions of the roots of North American species.
Stems
We have used three stem characters (Table I) to differentiate the taxa, the first one
describing the growth habit, one, the pubescence of the young stem (character 2), and one,
the nature of the vegetative shoot (character 10). In Character 1, Habit of Growth, the
attributes are generally self-explanatory. A compact subshrub refers to plants where the
internodes have been telescoped, and the leaves appear to form a rosette. The term
"subshrub" is used for those species in which the stem is usually less than 1.0 m tall,
which are herbaceous, fleshy, or semiwoody, and which have little or no continued
cambium activity. "Clambering" refers to those in which the stems start as erect, but later
may droop over, as contrasted with vines, in which the stem grows over, or through, other
vegetation. The second stem character is self-explanatory. The third stem character
(number 10), serves to differentiate the Section Stipulares from all the other sections.
Pubescence of plants
For convenience's sake, we have grouped the characters describing the surface hairs
from all the parts of the plants together as characters number 2 to 9, and for each part,