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Malesian Euphorbiaceae Descriptions |
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Welzen, P.C. van & F.J. Fernández-Casas. 2017. Cnidoscolus (Euphorbiaceae) escaped in Malesia? Bluma 62: 84–86.
Because Cnidoscolus has been introduced in Malesia only a description of the species is provided.
Cnidoscolus aconitifolius (Mill.) I.M.Johnst. subsp. aconitifolius cv ‘Chayamansa’ (McVaugh) Breckon in Kolt., Breckon & R.R.Kowal, Syst. Bot. 9 (1984) 24. ― Cnidoscolus chayamansa McVaugh, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club. 71 (1944) 466. ― Type: McVaugh 494 (holo US; iso CAS, DS, F, MICH, MO, NY, S), British Honduras [Belize], Honey Camp.
Jatropha quinquelobata Mill., Gard. Dict., ed. 8, 1 (1768) Jatropha species n° 2. ― Cnidoscolus quinquelobatus (Mill.) León, Mem. Soc. Cub. Hist. Nat. “Felipe Poey” 15 (1941) 236. ― Type: not indicated, reference to manuscript by Houstoun; Houstoun s.n., 1730 (BM no. 820455), Mexico, Vera Cruz, can be selected as lectotype (which should be done by somebody revising the genus).
Jatropha fragrans Kunth in Humb., Bonpl. & Kunth, Nov. Gen. Sp. 2 (1817) 105. ― Cnidoscolus fragrans (Kunth) Pohl, Pl. Bras. Icon. Descr. 1 (1827) 63. ― Lectotype (designated by Welzen & Fernández- Casas, 2017): von Humboldt & Bonpland 1333 (P no. 669927; iso P, no. 545646), Cuba, Havana.
Jatropha urens L. var. inermis Calvino, Revista Agric. Comércio Trab. 2 (1919) 364. ― Cnidoscolus aconitifolius (Mill.) I.M.Johnst. subsp. aconitifolius cv. ‘Inermis’ (Calvino) Breckon [Cnidoscolus Sect. Calyptrosolen (Euphorbiaceae) in Mexico and Central America, nom. inval., PhD thesis not distributed] ex Fern.Casas, Adumbrationes 21 (2007) 4, nom. superfl. ― Type: Calvino s.n., 05-xii-1918 (USNA), Cuba, Santiago de las Vega, cultivada.
Cnidoscolus chaya Lundell, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 72 (1945) 321. ― Type: C.L. & A.A. Lundell 8201 (holo LL; iso F, LL, MICH, S), Mexico, Yucatan, km 27 Mérida–Progreso Road.
Shrubs, up to 2.5 m high, somewhat succulent; branches up to 9 mm thick when dry, glabrous or locally with bristle hairs, not striate when dry, nodes thickened; juicy with translucent sap. Indumentum of bristle hairs, present in low densities on various organs, and short, woolly hairs in top of inflorescences. Stipules very early caducous, leaving thick, succulent scars. Leaves alternate, simple, concentrated towards the tips of the stems; petiole 6.2–13.5 cm long, not striate when dry, round when fresh, glabrous, apically with a pair of elevated, touching to partly united extrafloral nectaries; blade 5-lobed, ovate, 11–21 by 9–18.5 cm, lobes overlapping, symmetric, papery when dry, base broadly emarginate, margin laxly serrate in especially the apical lobe parts, short and longer teeth alternating, with short bristle hairs, apices of lobes acuminate; venation basally palmate, pinnate in lobes, secondary nerves looped and touching near margin. Inflorescences terminal, dichasialsubumbelliform; peduncle up to 23.5 cm long, with a few short bristle hairs, especially apically woolly hairs; branches woolly hairy; bracts triangular, c. 1.2 by 0.8 mm, apex acute, outside with woolly hairs; bracteoles like bracts, slightly smaller but with tip transformed into a gland; central flowers pistillate, more terminal/lateral ones staminate. Flowers 5-merous; calyx partly connate, lobes 5, imbricate, petaloid, white, outside woolly hairy, apically a few short bristle-like hairs, inside glabrous; petals absent. Staminate flowers seen in bud; calyx tube c. 4.7 mm long, lobes obovate, c. 2.5 by 2 mm; disc around androphore, indistinct; stamens 10, all united, outer 5 shorter, splitting off in lower part of androphore, with longer free filaments than upper and inner 5, anthers dorsi-basifixed, triangular, seemingly opening introrsely via lengthwise slits; on top of the androphore a pistillode, stigma-like, filamentous. Pistillate flowers 10–11 mm wide; pedicel woolly hairy, lower part of pedicel 1.5–2 mm long, upper c. 1 mm widening and continuing in calyx, persistent when calyx caducous; calyx basal c. 0.5 mm united (above widened part petiole), lobes oblong, c. 7 by 2.2 mm, reflexing; disc gynophore-like, tightly around ovary and staminodes, 5-lobed, c. 0.5 mm high, glabrous, white; staminodes 10, filament-like to stamen-like; ovary 3-locular, ellipsoid, c. 3 by 2 mm, outside smooth, with woolly hairs, a single ovule per locule; style c. 0.8 mm long, glabrous; stigmas c. 3.3 mm long, 2–3 times bifurcate, glabrous. Fruits and seeds unknown because pollen infertile.
Distribution ― The species is native in Mexico and Central America, but the cultivar has a much wider distribution (Howard 1989). In Malesia only known from four Philippine collections, two cultivated in a garden, one in Manila (Luzon, garden of the collector, M.L. Steiner 1085 = PNH (Steiner) 36973) and in Pasay City (Luzon; PNH (C.G. Manuel) 18631), two collected outside Cebu City (Cebu; D. Bicknell 1546, 1649).
Habitat & Ecology ― Outskirts of Cebu City, along stream. Altitude: 200-250 m. Flowering: June, July.
Vernacular name ― Chaya (Mexican).
Uses ― Young leaves and shoots eaten as vegetable, seemingly rich in Vitamin C (Radcliffe-Smith 2001, in note, as C. chayamansa). This cultivar is edible because the leaf surface is quite large and it hardly has stinging, bristly hairs, which are generally very apparent in most others species in this genus.
Notes ― 1. According to literature (e.g., Kolterman et al. 1984) the stamens are sterile, because the pollen is infertile. Consequently, fruits are unknown and the plant has to be propagated via shoots or cuttings and is very likely not invasive.
2. De Sessé y Lacasta (1794) published Jatropha quinqueloba and J. palmata (non Willdenow 1805; J. palmata Willd. is a synonym of C. acontifolius subsp. acontifolius) in a footnote of a printed speech by Prof. Vincente de Cervantes in the supplement of a Mexican literary newspaper. The journal is obscure, but the descriptions though brief are valid. De Sessé’s J. palmata is older than Willdenow’s name, making the latter illegitimate. A specimen in Madrid, ‘Herbario de Sessé y Mociño 4230’ (MA 602171), shows that J. palmata is a Manihot and the name is not a synonym of Cnidoscolus acontifolius as suggested by ThePlantList.org. Jatropha quinqueloba Sessé (based on ‘Herbario de Sessé y Mociño 4227’, MA 602180), and closely resembling the name J. quinquelobata Mill., is identified as J. tubulosa Müll.Arg., a synonym of C. tubulosus (Müll.Arg.) I.M.Johnst. Both Jatropha names do not appear in the much later published Flora Mexicana by Sessé & Mociño (1892-1898, of which the second edition was partly even printed earlier; not in references!).
3. The figure shows the wild type of C. acontifiolius, which is fertile and of which fruits are known. The cultivar has broader, leafier lobes that largely overlap.
