Manihot aesculifolia

Manihot aesculifolia
Manihot aesculifolia leaves and flowers
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Embryophytes
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Genus: Manihot
Species:
M. aesculifolia
Binomial name
Manihot aesculifolia
Synonyms[1]
List
  • Janipha aesculifolia Kunth
  • Janipha aesculifolia (Kunth) Steud
  • Manihot gualanensis S.F. Blake
  • Manihot intermedia Weath.
  • Manihot olfersiana Pax

Manihot aesculifolia, commonly known as buckeye-leafed cassava, is a tuberous shrub or tree native from Mexico south through Central America, in seasonal tropical forests.[1] Its tubers are edible, but not as productive as the extensively cultivated cassava, or manioc. This is a "wild cassava."

Description

Here are noteworthy features of Manihot aesculifolia:[2]

  • Stems up to 7 m (23 ft) tall produce large tubers which are brown, rough and flaky, but which inside are creamy white. All parts of the plant are hairless, and exude a milk sap when injured.
  • Leaves arise singly along the stem on petioles up to 20 cm (7.9 in) long, with blades up 30 cm (12 in) in length and up to 10 cm (3.9 in) wide. Blades are very deeply lobed into 5-9 parts radiating outward from the point of attachment with the petiole.
  • Inflorescences usually are much-branched panicles at the tips of stems. They are up to 45 cm (18 in) long, and bear both male and female flowers, which are interspersed.
  • Male flowers bearing corolla-like tepals about 13 mm (1⁄2 in) long range in color from pure greenish yellow to various purple hues. The tepals are divided shallowly divided into 5 lobes. Ten stamens are up to 9 mm (3⁄8 in) long. Female flowers, nearly the same size, lack the stamens, but do have a plump pistil about 6 mm (1⁄4 in) long conspicuously topped with a 3-lobed stigma; these parts are missing in male flowers.
  • Capsular-type fruits, arranged in long clusters, are green, slightly warty, almost spherical, and about 15 mm (5⁄8 in) across. They arise from pedicels about 1 cm (3⁄8 in) long, which are slightly curved downwards.
  • Oblong seeds are about 1.5 cm (5⁄8 in) long, a bit thin and flat, with the top side bearing conspicuous horizontal stripes. There's a broad, prominent caruncle, a kind of elaiosome, attached to the seed.

Distribution

Manihot aesculifolia is native to Mexico and all countries of Central America.[3]

Habitat

In Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, Manihot aesculifolia inhabits low- and medium-height seasonal tropical forest.[4] On Mexico's Pacific coast, in the state of Colima, it inhabits tropical forests with deciduous leaves.[5] In Nicaragua's Pacific side it is common in tropical deciduous forests and spiny scrub up to 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in elevation.[2]

As human food

In home gardens

In Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, Maya and mestizo communities often grow Manihot aesculifolia in home gardens.[6]

As naturally occurring food

The "Zero Hunger Challenge" web page of the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization lists Manihot aesculifolia, as its first example of the importance of forests in food security.[7] The tubers of the species are gathered widely.[8]

Taxonomy

In 1817, Manihot aesculifolia was first formally described under the name Janipha aesculifolia, by Carl Sigismund Kunth, who dealt with specimens collected by Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland during their American Expedition of 1799–1804. Accompanying the description was the remark that the taxon grew on the shore of the Bay of Campeche : "Crescit in litore Sinus Campechensis".[9] Humboldt and Bonpland had visited the Bay of Compeche as they exited Mexico at Veracruz in early 1804.[10] The taxon Manihot aesculifolia was established by Johann Baptist Emanuel Pohl in 1827 when he transferred Junipha aesculifoia Humb. et Bonpl. to the genus Manihot.[11]

Phylogeny

Before genetic analysis of species, on the basis of morphological characters, Manihot aesculifolia was thought to be the origin of the widely cultivated cassava, Manihot esculenta, also called manioc. However, phylogenetic analysis using molecular markers suggests a possible domestication of cassava from taxa in Brazil.[12]

Etymology

The genus name Manihot derives from the Tupi-Guarani name manioca, which means "cassava".[13]

The species name aesculifolia is based on the genus Aesculus. The -folia part is a borrowing from the Latin folium, meaning "leaf."[14] Therefore, "like leaves of the genus Aesculus", among whose species are the buckeyes giving rise to the English name.

References

  1. 1 2 "Manihot aesculifolia (Kunth) Pohl". Plants of the World Online. United Kingdom: Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  2. 1 2 "Manihot aesculifolia (Kunth) Pohl". Flora Neotropica. World Flora Online. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  3. ↑ "Manihot aesculifolia (Kunth) Pohl". catalogueoflife.org. Catalogue of Life. April 7, 2026. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  4. ↑ "Taxón: Manihot aesculifolia (Kunth) Pohl". Flora de La Península de Yucatán (in Spanish). Mérida, Yucatán, México: Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, A.C. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  5. ↑ Padilla-Velarde, Eloy; Cuevas-Guzmán, Ramón; Ibarra-Manríquez, Guillermo; Moreno-Gómez, Saúl (May 22, 2006). "Riqueza y biogeografía de la fl ora arbórea del estado de Colima, México" (PDF). Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad (in Spanish). 77. Mexico City, Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México: 271–295. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  6. ↑ Neulinger, Korinna; Vogl, Christian R.; Alayón-Gamboa, José A. (2013). "Plant Species and Their Uses In Homegardens of Migrant Maya and Mestizo Smallholder Farmers In Calakmul, Campeche, Mexico". Journal of Ethnobiology. 33 (1). BioOne Digital Library: 105–124. doi:10.2993/0278-0771-33.1.105. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  7. ↑ Molina, Amauri (2014). "Linking Forests with Zero Hunger Challenge" (PDF). fao.org. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  8. ↑ Chacón Pinilla, Juliana (2005). Patrones filogenéticos en el género Manihot Mill. (Euphorbiaceae): biogeografía y ecología comparada de las especies mesoamericanas y suramericanas. Trabajo de Grado para optar al título de Magíster en Ciencias Biológicas (in Spanish). Bogotá, Colombia: Universidad de Los Andes.
  9. ↑ Kunth, Carol Sigismund (1817). Nova genera et species plantarum:quas in peregrinatione ad plagam aequinoctialem orbis novi collegerunt /descripserunt, partim adumbraverunt Amat. Bonpland et Alex. de Humboldt; ex schedis autographis Amati Bonplandi in ordinem digessit Carol. Sigismund. Kunth ... (in Latin). Vol. 2. p. 85.
  10. ↑ "Alexander von Humboldt". Embajada de Alemania Ciudad de México. Mexico City, Mexico: German Embassy in Mexico City. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  11. ↑ Pohl, Joanne Emanuel (1827). Plantarum Brasiliae icones et descriptiones hactenus ineditae:iussu et auspiciis Francisci Primi, imperatoris et regis augustissimi (in Latin). Vol. 1. Austrian Empire. p. 55.
  12. ↑ Fregene, M; Puonti-Kaerlas, J. (2002). "Cassava Biotechnology". In Hillocks, R.J.; Thresh, J.M.; Bellotti, A.C (eds.). Cassava: Biology, Production and Utilization (PDF). CAB International (CABI). pp. 179–207.
  13. ↑ "Manihot esculenta Crantz". Flora & Fauna Web. Singapore: National Parks Board. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  14. ↑ "folia". oed.com. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.