Realignments in American Croton (Euphorbiaceae)

Abstract

Revisional studies in Croton to achieve a more nearly phylogenetic classification necessitate a number of nomenclatural changes. The genera Crotonopsis and Eremocarpus are reduced to sec- tions of Croton, and the new names Croton mi- chauxii and C. willdenowii are proposed for the two species of Croton sect. Crotonopsis. For Croton sect. Julocroton, the 25 species accepted are enu- merated, including 19 new names or new combi- nations. In the course of an unpublished review of the sections of Croton L., I have found it necessary to make a number of changes in classification. Con- sequently, in order to be able to cite representative species for the 38 sections of Croton, a number of nomenclatural changes must be validated. The generic circumscription of Croton that has been almost universally accepted by systematists for more than a century is that proposed by Jean Muell- er (1865, 1866, 1873). In contrast to the earlier classification of Baillon (1858), Mueller recognized only four genera in the Croton alliance (subtribe