Flora of Dominica, Part 2 - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

NUMBER 77 EUPHORBIACEAE 85
Stern 2524, S ylvania (Hodge 3819), Syndicate (Whitefoord
3905).
Euphorbia Linnaeus
Three taxa are cultivated on Dominica: (1) Euphorbia
pulcherrima Willdenow ex Klotzsch (includes Poinsettia
pulcherrima (Klotzsch) R.C. Graham) of Mexico, the poinsettia,
a shrub cultivated for its showy, red, leafy bracts, (2)
Euphorbia nu‘lii var. splendens (Bojer ex Hooker) Ursch &
handri of Madagascar, the crown-of-thorns, cultivated as a
spiny hedge, and (3) Euphorbia leucocephala Lotsy of Central
America, a small shrub with conspicuous white bracts and
whorled leaves.
1. Cyathial gland bilabiate; floral bracts often red at base;
seeds scarcely angular . . . . . . . . . . E. cyathophora
1. Cyathial gland round; floral bracts never red at base; seeds
angular. , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E. heterophylza
Euphorbia cyathophora
Euphorbia cyathophora Murray, 1786.
Poinsettia cyathophora (Murray) Klotzsch & Garckein Klotzsch. 1859:253.-
Dressler, 1962:338.-Burch in Webster & Burch, 1968:338.
Herb to 1 m; leaves variable, narrowly linear to pandurate,
entire or dentate, alternate below, the upper leaves often red at
base; cyathia glabrous or sparsely pubescent; gland solitary,
flattened, strongly bilabiate; capsule glabrous; seeds scarcely
angular, tuberculate.
Neotropical weed; a garden weed in Dominica, to be
expected in disturbed areas: South Chiltern (Hodge 3881).
Euphorbia heterophylla
Euphorbia heterophylla Linnaeus, 1753:453.
Euphorbia geniculata Ortega, 1797:18.
Poinsettia heterophylla (Linnaeus) Klotzsch & Garcke in Klotzsch,
1859:253.-Dressler, 1962339.-Burch in Webster & Burch, 1%8:336.
Herb to 7 dm; leaves alternate below, variable, often
long-petiolate, entire or dentate, glabrous or pubescent, linear
to pandurate; cyathia glabrous outside, the gland with a circular
opening; capsule glabrous; seed angular, tuberculate.
Neotropical weed; in Dominica on roadsides and cultivated
land to 600 m: Clarke Hall (Emst 1630, Webster I3193),
Coulibistrie (Wilbur 8333, Delices (Whitefoord 3671), Hatton
Garden (Hodge 3045), Milton Estate (Hodge 2931), Ridgefield
(Hodge 2159), Roseau (Hodge 559), Syndicate (Whitefoord
4577).
Gymnanthes Swartz
Gymnanthes hypoleuca
Gymnanthes hypoleuca Bentham, 1854325.
Excoecaria farinosa Grisebach, 1857:169.
Gym~nthes hypoleuca var. Iatifolia J. Mueller. 1863:103.
Sebastiania hypoleuca var. farinosa (Grisebach) J. Mueller in A.P. Candolle,
1866, 15(2)1184, nun. illeg.
Gymnanthes hypdeuca var. farinma (Grisebach) Pax & Hofhann in Engler,
1912, IV.147 (Heft 52):84, nom. illeg.
Ateramnus hypoleucus (Bentham) Rothmaler, 1944:5.
Gymnanthes farinosa (Grisebach) Webster in Webster & Huft, 1988:1131.
Monoecious, glabrous shrub or tree; leaves whitish glaucous
beneath, entire, acuminate, to 11 cm long; young inflorescences
without enclosing bracts (as in Actinostemon); capsules 1 cm
across.
Guadeloupe, St. Lucia, northern S. America; apparently rare
in Dominica in moist lowlands: La Chaudihre (Hodge 3514),
La Soie (Eggers 729), Sugar Loaf (Eggers 1066).
Some authors have synonymized Gymnanthes under older
Ateramnus Browne. Webster (1983:305) neotypified Ateramnus
on Sapium jamaicense Swartz and made Ateramnus
Browne a synonym of Sapium Browne. A challenge was made
by Kruijt and Zijlstra (1989:325).
There are uncertainties about the rank, specific vs. varietal,
of this taxon. Our materials are too inadequate to determine
whether the Lesser Antillean material is taxonomically distinct
from the typical South American populations. Those interested
in recognizing an Antillean variety should note that Mueller’s
var. latifolia is the oldest available epithet at the rank and it is
based on the same type as Grisebach’s Excoecaria farinosa.
Hippomane Linnaeus
Hippomane mancinella
Hippomane mancinella Linnaeus, 1753:1191.-Burch
1968:328.
in Webster & Burch,
Madjini, manchineel (from manzanilla, Spanish for “little
apple”), balaubakuru (Carib for “sea venom”).
Glabrous monoecious shrub or tree to 10 m; sap milky, a
virulent contact poison; petiole with 1 gland at apex; leaf-blade
ovate or lance-ovate, to 13 cm long, serrulate, acuminate; drupe
green to red or yellow, apple-like, 3 cm across.
Widespread and locally common on upper beaches from
Florida and Bahamas through Central America and West Indies
to Colombia and Venezuela; in Dominica localized on west
coast rocky strands with Coccoloba and Thespesia: Mero
(Ernst 1663), Point Ronde (Hodge 2701), St. Joseph (Nicolson
2041), Scotts Head (Nicolson 1995, Webster 13446, Wilbur
7594).
Cited by Hodge and Taylor (1957572) as a Carib arrow
poison.
Hyeronima Allemiio
Hyeronima laxiflora
Hyeronima IaTiflora (T‘asne) J. Mueller, 1865:67.-Howard, 1989.559.
Stilaginella laxiflora Tulasne, 1851:244.