Acalypha spiciflora Burm.f.

Flora Indica 203: pl. 61-2 (Burman 1768). — Claoxylon spiciflorum (Burm.f.) A.Juss., De Euphorbiacearum generibus medicisque earumdem viribus tentamen 43 (Jussieu 1824). — Cleidion spiciflorum (Burm.f.) Merr., An Interpretation of Rumphius’s Herbarium Amboinense 322 (Merrill 1917).

REMARKS

Acalypha spiciflora Burm. f. was described and illustrated in Burman’s Flora Indica, but the plate and the description are very imprecise. Subsequently, Poiret (1804) cited under this name a specimen in the Lamarck herbarium (P00382113) from La Réunion. That specimen is morphologically close to Burman’s plate, but it is not an Acalypha species. Later, Jussieu (1824) combined A. spiciflora under the genus Claoxylon, as Claoxylon spiciflorum, and Merrill (1917) combined it under Cleidion, as Cleidion spiciflorum, the name that is currently accepted. Müller Argoviensis (1866) wrongly placed Acalypha spiciflora as a synonym of A. acuminata Vahl ex Baill. Pax & Hoffmann (1924) andLeandri (1942) followed Müller’s treatment but, applying the rule of priority, chose A. spiciflora as the accepted name. This is the origin of the confusion in the use of this name.