Croton crocodilorum Leandri, Ann. Mus. Colon. Marseille, ser . 5, 7(1): 80. 1939

Berry, Paul E., Kainulainen, Kent & Ee, Benjamin W. van, 2017, A Nomenclator of Croton (Euphorbiaceae) in Madagascar, the Comoros Archipelago, and the Mascarene Islands, PhytoKeys 90, pp. 1-87 : 28

42. Croton crocodilorum Leandri, Ann. Mus. Colon. Marseille, ser. 5, 7(1): 80. 1939

Croton bathianus var. toliarae Radcl.-Sm., Gen. Croton Madag. Comoro 115. 2016, syn. nov. Type. Madagascar. Prov. Toliara: Beza Mahafaly Reserve near Betioky, E of Sakamena River, near Ambinda, 23°40'S, 44°38'E, 3 Nov 1987, P.B. Phillipson 2511 (holotype: K!; isotypes: MO, P [P00127504]!).

Croton crocodilorum var. meridionalis Radcl.-Sm., Gen. Croton Madag. Comoro 112. 2016, syn. nov. Type. Madagascar. Prov. Fianarantsoa: Ihosy, in monte Lalanandro, 6 Nov 1967, L. Bernardi 11259bis (holotype: K!; isotypes: G!, P [P00154382]!).

Type.

Madagascar. Prov. Mahajanga: vallée de la Betsiboka à Marovoay , colline de Marovoay, 50 m, 4-5 Sep 1924, H. Humbert & H. Perrier de la Bâthie 2347 (lectotype, designated here: G [G00018189]!; isolectotypes: P [P00133026]!, P [P00312451]!, TAN [TAN000528]!) . Madagascar. Prov. Mahajanga: Boiny, Nov., H. Perrier de la Bâthie 9831 (syntypes: P [P00133027]!, P [P00312452]!) .

Habit and distribution.

Shrubs; mainly southern and western Madagascar (Mahajanga, Toliara), but also in Fianarantsoa Province.

Notes.

The Geneva sheet was chosen as the lectotype of Croton crocodilorum , since it is the most complete sheet among the syntypes and contains many seeds in the packet. It was annotated by Leandri as ' Croton crocodilorum Leandri n. sp.,' before it was acquired by Geneva as part of the Herbier Delessert in 1949.

The type of Croton bathianus var. toliarae supposedly differs from the type of C. crocodilorum in its rugulose (vs. smooth) seeds ( Radcliffe-Smith 2016). However, wrinkled seeds were also seen in the type of C. crocodilorum , whereas the type of C. bathianus has no fruits. The type of C. crocodilorum var. meridionalis supposedly differs from the type of C. crocodilorum by its denser cinereous indumentum on the lower side of the leaves and larger capsules and seeds ( Radcliffe-Smith 2016), but we consider this merely an extreme pubescence outlier in the morphological variation of the species.