Astraea trilobata (Forssk.) O.L.M. Silva & Cordeiro, 2019

Silva, Otávio Luis Marques Da, Dias, Pedro, Riina, Ricarda & Cordeiro, Inês, 2019, Redelimitation of Astraea lobata (Euphorbiaceae) and other taxonomic rearrangements in Astraea, Phytotaxa 404 (4), pp. 127-136 : 133

Astraea trilobata (Forssk.) O.L.M. Silva & Cordeiro , comb. nov.

Croton trilobatus Forsskal in Forsskal & Niebuhr (1775: 163). Neotype (designated here):— YEMEN: ‘ Hille , Gebel Bura’, 400 m, 5 January 1889, G. Schweinfurth 237 (G!, isoneotype P05478221!).

Despite the efforts of Christensen (1922) and Hepper & Friis (1994), the type collection of Croton trilobatus Forssk. could not be located at C or any other herbarium where Forsskål’s collections might have been deposited. Hepper & Fries (1994) stated that the missing Forsskål’s specimen was collected in 1763, in Wadi Surdud (“Srd= Uadi Surdûd”), Yemen, which corresponds to the Sumara Pass (15°10’N, 42°52’E) in the list of localities these authors presented. With this background, we designate G. Schweinfurth 237 as the neotype since this is close to the type locality and Schweinfurth’s collections in Yemen were carried out in memory of Forsskål.