Biology Commons^™

A Taxonomic Revision Of Neotropical Discocarpus (Euphorbiaceae), Sheila Mae Hayden

Master's Theses

This thesis is a taxonomic revision of Discocarpus, a genus of three species of trees from seasonally inundated forests of northern South America. Discocarpus is classified in the family Euphorbiaceae. The Euphorbiaceae or spurge family is a large and diverse taxon of angiosperms consisting of approximately 7000 species placed in 300 genera, comprising 49 tribes and 5 subfamilies (Webster 1994b). The origin of the family is likely Western Gondwanaland, and the earliest fossils identified as Euphorbiaceae date to the Paleocene (Raven & Axelrod 1974). The family is predominately tropical, however, species of Euphorbiaceae are important throughout most of the world …

A Study Of The Roots On Stem Cuttings Of Pedilanthus Tithymaloides Smallii (Millsp.) Dressler, Leonard Morrow

Master's Theses

The geographical distribution of Pedilanthus tithymaloides is variously listed as Tropical America (Engler, 1919); from Florida to Venezuela (Taylor, 1936); and Caribbean America (Dressler, 1957). Because of its use as an ornamental, the plant is also found in Mexico, China and Java (Dressler, 1957); Hawaii (Degener. 1940); and Bermuda (Britton, 1918). Banerji (1951) and Rao (1956) have worked with fresh hedge material from India. White et al (1941) report that the species is found growing on the graves of natives in Zululand and Rhodesis, and acknowledge that the introduction "from American into the native kraals is a mystery."

The present …