Euphorbia vermiculata Rafinesque (1818: 206)

Steinmann, Victor W., 2023, Typification of Mexican Euphorbia (Euphorbiaceae), Phytotaxa 630 (1), pp. 61-68 : 65

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.