Typification of Mexican Euphorbia (Euphorbiaceae)
Author
Steinmann, Victor W.
0000-0003-0103-9575
Instituto de Ecología, A. C., Centro Regional del Bajío, Av. Lázaro Cárdenas 253, 61600 Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, Mexico.
steinmav@gmail.com
text
Phytotaxa
2023
2023-12-12
630
1
61
68
https://phytotaxa.mapress.com/pt/article/download/phytotaxa.630.1.5/51357
journal article
10.11646/phytotaxa.630.1.5
1179-3163
10361687
Euphorbia vermiculata
Rafinesque (1818: 206)
.
≡
Chamaesyce vermiculata
(Rafinesque)
House (1920
[1921]: 8).
Neotype
(designated here):—
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
.
New York
:
Columbia Co.
,
0.6 mi
N
of junction of
NY Route
22 and
I90
on Route 22,
SE
of
Canaan
,
18 September 1967
,
H.E. Ahles
70152
(
NY
barcode
04019875
!;
isoneotypes
DOV
no. 011660/barcode
DOV0020034
photo!,
NLU
no.
243475
/barcode
0147926
photo!,
UAM
no.
014263
photo!,
UT
no.
106843
/barcode
UT0054894
photo!).
The French botanist Constantine Samuel Rafinesque proposed thousands of new species of plants, the majority of which have been relegated to synonymy of previously described species. However, some of his taxa are currently accepted. One of these is
Euphorbia vermiculata
, a widespread annual ranging from southern
Canada
to central
Mexico
and probably conspecific with plants in South America that are recognized as
E. hirtella
Boissier (1860: 7)
. Rafinesque’s original description states that
Euphorbia vermiculata
was “found in August, 1816, near Sandyhill and Glen’s Falls, State of New York, in fields.”
Wheeler (1941)
indicates that the type is not known to exist, and
Pennell (1944)
describes in detail the fate of Rafinesque’s herbarium and how nearly all of his specimens were lost. The extant material is primarily in the herbarium of the Museum of Natural Histroy (P) in Paris,
France
. Because original material of
Euphorbia vermiculata
cannot be found at P, nor elsewhere, a
neotype
is here designated. The specimen is from the same region of the state of New York as Rafinesque’s original collection and corresponds to his scant morphological description and the current application of the name.