Manihot Manihotoides (Euphorbiaceae) - CNCFlora

Systematic
Position of the Genus 41
Janipha aesculifolia Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth, Nov. Gen. & Sp. 2: 85. PI. 109. 1817;
Jatropha aesculifolia Steudel, Nomencl. ed. 2.1: 799. 1840.
Manihot intermedia Weatherby, Proc. Am. Acad. 45: 427. 1910. (Contr. Gray Herb. 2: 427
1910); Pax in Engler, Pflanzenreich IV. 147(Heft 44): 101. 1910; Standley, Contr. U. S. Nat.
Herb. 23: 643. 1923; Croizat, Jour. Arnold Arb. 23: 221. 1942. Type. Pringle 13938
(syntypes, ARIZ-2, F, GH, MICH, MO, UC, US).
Manihot olfersiana Pax, Pflanzenreich IV. 147(Heft 44): 55. 1910; McVaugh, Brittonia 13: 193.
1961. Type. Ubde 1176 nv.
Manihot gualanensis Blake, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 24: 13. 1922. Type. Blake 7688 (holotype
US, isotypes F, US).
Erect tall shrubs to 7.0 m, trunk at base ca 10.0 cm in diam. Roots prominently
swollen, large; epidermis brown, rough and flaky; subepidermis creamy white. Young
stems green, glabrous, internally white; mature stems grayish brown, glabrous; all parts
with white latex. Young apical foliage yellowish green to dark reddish purple (10 P 3/9).
Leaves alternate; stipules deciduous, glabrous; petioles ca 20.0 cm long, terete, glabrous,
pure green or with various degrees of pigmentation such as green with bluish cast at base
and apex, moderately reddish (2.5 R 4/10) throughout, or dark red throughout; lamina
nonpeltate, silvery beneath, deep green above (2.5 G 5/9), abaxial surface wax pattern
verrucate with a characteristic microscopic pulverulence; venation camptodromous;
palmately 5-9 lobed; median lobes 15.0-30.0 cm in length, 4.0-10.0 cm in width,
oblong, entire lobed, or oblong-pandurate, the primary constriction of pandurate lobes
differing considerably in depth and width, apex acute to acuminate, bristle pointed, base
of lobe usually 0.75-2.0 cm across, rarely less; lowest lobes ca half as long, and more or
less similar in shape, to median lobes. Inflorescence monoecious, usually a large profusely
branched terminal panicle, often as long as 45.0 cm, occasionally shorter and less
profusely branched, all parts glabrous; bracteoles setaceous or semifoliaceous, in the latter
case as long as 2.0 cm, linear, margin smooth; bractlets setaceous. Pistillate flowers not
restricted to the base of the inflorescence but occurring from the base up to almost the
apex, interspersed with staminate flowers, tepals ca 1.2 cm long, cleft down to base into 5
lobes, lobes lanceolate-oblong, ca 0.4 cm wide; disc fleshy, entire, pistil ca 0.6 cm long,
ovary subglobose, glabrous, the trifid stigma much lobed and lobulate. Staminate flowers
campanulate, often pendulous, tepals ca 1.3 cm long, color varies from pure greenish
yellow to various degrees of purple pigmentation, different types occurring together often
in the same local population, cleft 1/3 way down into 5 lobes, lobes oblong, obtuse, not
prominently reflexed at anthesis; disc 10 lobed, depressed and fleshy; stamens 10, in 2
whorls of 5 each, superior whorl ca 0.9 cm long, inferior whorl ca 0.7 cm long.
Infructescence usually a long cluster of fruits, characteristic of this species, fruit pedicles
ca 1.0 cm long, slightly curved downwards; capsules almost globular, ca 1.5 cm long from
base to apex, surface green, slightly tuberculate, without ribs, apex rounded; fruit
dehiscence septicidal. Seeds oblong, ca 1.25 cm long, relatively thin and flat, dorsal side
with conspicuous horizontal stripes; caruncle moderately prominent, broad. Fig 10-D;
12-A, B.
TYPE. Humboldt & Bonpland s n: Mexico, Campeche: Campeche (photo of syntype,
P).
DISTRIBUTION. (Fig 11). Mexico: Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacan,
Guerrero, Mexico, Vera Cruz, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Yucatan and Quintana Roo Territory;
British Honduras; Guatemala; Honduras; El Salvador; Nicaragua; Costa Rica and Panama.
Occurring in the interior region of the west and east facing coastal belts, usually along the
foothills and lower slopes of the mountains, to ca 1300 m, rarely in the plains. In the
Yucatan area it flourishes on steep banks of cenotes (limestone sinks with water at
bottom, Karst topography), localized and not spreading far beyond the cenote margins.
Towards the north with lower rainfall, it grows in dry thorn forest vegetation dominated
by Acacia, Cnidoscolus, Coccoloba, Randia, etc.; or at the edge of savannas in grassy