Cnidoscolus vitifolius (Mill.) Pohl, Pl. Bras. Icon. Descr.

Maya-Lastra, Carlos A. & Steinmann, Victor W., 2018, A Nomenclator of Cnidoscolus (Euphorbiaceae), Phytotaxa 346 (1), pp. 1-30 : 22

97. Cnidoscolus vitifolius (Mill.) Pohl, Pl. Bras. Icon. Descr. 1: 62 (1827).— Jatropha vitifolia [as ‘ vitifolius ’] Mill., Gard. Dict. ed. 8. 2: 567 (1768).— Jatropha vitifolia var. genuina Müll.Arg., Prodr. 15(2): 1097 (1866), nom. inval. Type:—See notes below. Jatropha vitifolia var. obtusifolia Müll.Arg., Prodr. 15(2): 1097 (1866). Type:— BRAZIL. Bahia: Catingas ad v. n. do Rainha, without date,

C.F.P. von Martius s.n. (lectotype G-00434356!, designated here). Two syntypes were mentioned in the protologue: Sello s.n. and

Martius s.n. We were unable to find the first syntype, while the second one was cited for B ; both are presumably destroyed. We use a duplicate of the second (isosyntype) for lectotypification.

Distribution:— Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay.

Notes:— Miller (1768) when describing Jatropha vitifolia cited as references “Plum. Cat. 20. The most prickly cassava with a Vine leaf” and Hortus Cliffortianus 445. Plumier’s description is too vague and provides no indication as to which species this could be. Hortus Cliffortianus cites a number of previous works, most of which are likewise ambiguous with regard to identity or apparently Cnidoscolus urens . Pohl, as indicated by his illustration and specimen (Pohl 1180 in W), applied the name to a species that is clearly not the same as Miller’s. Pohl’s circumscription has been followed for nearly 200 years. Although this problem has been mentioned by previous authors ( McVaugh 1944), it has not been definitively resolved. For nomenclatural stability we believe that the best solution is to conserve the name Jatropha vitifolia with a conserved type that corresponds to current usage.