Manihot takape

Description. Subshrubs 0.5 - 0.8 (- 1) m tall. Roots slender with scattered subglobose to slightly elongated tubers, 5 - 10 cm diameter, ligneous outside, starchy, fibrous and creamy-white inside. Latex white. Stems branched from base, suberect to decumbent, leaning on adjacent vegetation, hollow, glabrous, green, occasionally reddish. Leaves alternate, widely spaced on stem, light green; stipules 0.2 - 0.3 cm long, narrowly lanceolate to filiform, margins entire, glabrous, caducous; petioles 1.5 - 8 (- 10) cm long, terete, glabrous, petiole attachment basal to occasionally narrowly peltate (less than 0.2 cm from lamina base); lamina membranaceous, smooth and glabrous on both sides, with a tuft of hairs on the adaxial side at the point of attachment of petiole, venation camptodromous; lamina unlobed to shallowly or deeply 3 - lobed, sometimes with 2 additional smaller basal lobes, several intermediate states found in the same plant; sinus never reaching the lamina base, width of lamina between lamina base and sinus> 0.5 cm. Unlobed laminas 3 - 9 (- 11) x 2.5 - 7 (- 10) cm, ovate to suborbicular, base obtuse, truncate or subcordate, rarely acute, margins entire or slightly sinuate, apex acuminate; leaves mostly unlobed, especially those near the inflorescence. Lobed leaves: medial lobes 4 - 7 x 3 - 6 cm, elliptic, ovate or obovate, sometimes pandurate, apex acuminate, rarely obtuse. Inflorescence bisexual, terminal; a cluster of 2 - 6 racemes arising from a common base, all parts glabrous; racemes subspicate, 14 - 33 cm long; bracteoles and bractlets 2 - 3 mm long, 1 mm wide, setaceous, narrowly lanceolate, margins entire. Pistillate flowers 2, restricted to the base of the inflorescence, geminate, all parts glabrous; pedicels ca. 1 - 2 cm long; sepals 5, distinct, 1 cm long, creamy-white, occasionally with reddish pigmentation; disc lobed, 1 mm thick, creamy-white; ovary 3 - carpellate, subglobose, styles very shortly connate, stigmas 3, profusely lobulate. Staminate flowers numerous, aggregated toward the apex of the inflorescence; pedicels 0.5 mm; buds ovoid-ellipsoid; sepals 5, connate 1 / 4 length, 1 cm long, creamy-white, occasionally with reddish pigmentation; disc lobed, 1 mm thick, creamy-white; stamens 8 - 10, filaments 3.5 - 5 mm long, subequal, anthers 4 mm long, oblong. Capsules 7.5 - 15 mm diameter, surface rough in dried specimens, to 20 - 23 mm diameter and smooth in fresh specimens, subglobose to slightly elongated, unwinged, apex rounded to depressed, dehiscence septicidal and loculicidal. Seeds 9 - 11 x 7 - 8 mm, 4 - 5 mm depth, oblong-elliptic, light glaucous greenish-grey, smooth and slightly lustrous, with few 1 - 2 mm dark spots towards the sides; caruncle usually prominent, light brownish-grey, opaque, extending obliquely from apex to 4 mm on the ventral side.