Manihot Manihotoides (Euphorbiaceae) - CNCFlora

Introduction 17
A
FIG 2. Leaf venation. A, craspedodromous type, the secondary veins extending to the lamina
margin (Kearney & Peebles 14928, ARIZ); B, camptodromous type, the secondary veins interconnected
and not terminating at the lamina margin (Peebles 8796, ARIZ).
veins near the margin curve upward, and parallel the margin for a distance before joining
the next vein above.
Inflorescence
The inflorescences of the species are, with one possible exception, indeterminate
racemes or panicles. The exception is the pistillate inflorescence of M. stipularis (Fig 98B)
which is a consistently two-flowered cyme. There is considerable variation in the size of
the inflorescence on any species (as indicated by our own field experience) but this
variation is difficult to detect on most herbarium collections. Therefore, it is impossible
to give any absolute measurements with the character states describing the inflorescence,
except by such comparative terms as "short," "medium," or "long." However, with the
other descriptive terms employed for each character state, associated with the above
comparative terms, the user should be able to distinguish the specific type of
inflorescence of an unknown. The simplest inflorescence type is a raceme, and in some of
these, the pedicels are very short, giving the general appearance of a spike. We have
termed this type as a "subspicate raceme." In some species, several racemes may arise
from a common base, in which case we have used the term "cluster" to accompany the
descriptive term raceme, to distinguish these from those species whose inflorescences are
simple racemes. We consider a cluster of racemes to be distinct from the panicle.
Bracteoles and bractlets provide three systematic criteria: pubescence (character 7),
nature (character 38) and margins (character 39). While the states of character 7 and 39
are easily understood, those of character 38 require comparisons with more than one