24. Acalypha cuspidata Jacq.

Plantarum Rariorum Horti Caesarei Schoenbrunnensis Descriptiones et Icones 2: 63, tab. 243 (Jacquin 1797).

≡ Ricinocarpus cuspidatus (Jacq.) Kuntze; = Acalypha vestita Benth.; = A. asterifolia Rusby; = A. tenuipes Pax & K.Hoffm.; = A. santae-martae Pax & K.Hoffm.

Voucher specimens

COLOMBIA – Magdalena • Smith, H.H. 429; BM, G, LE, MA .

ECUADOR – Guayas • Madsen, J.E. 63938; AAU, MA, QCA, QCNE .

PERU – Tumbes • Weberbauer, A. 7662; F, NY, US .

VENEZUELA – Distrito Capital • Pittier, H. 13367; G, GH, M, MO, NY, US .

Habit

Subshrub or shrub. Native.

Habitat

Northern Andes: Caribe/Pacific Lowland Plains and Hills, Venezuelan Coastal Andes, and Northern Andean Highlands, alt. 30‒1000(‒1300) m.

Distribution

Mexico, Caribe, and Northern South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela).

References

Cardiel (1995a), Cardiel & Muñoz-Rodríguez (2012), Cardiel et al. (2013b).

Provisional conservation status

LC.

Remarks

The specimens previously identified as A calypha plicata from Colombia and Venezuela by Cardiel (1995a, 1999b), are here considered belonging to A. cuspidata . See the Remarks for this species.