NOTES ON THE GENUS ALEURITES 
BY 
Louis Cutter Wheeler 
The genus Aleurites J. R. & G. Forster (Char. Gen. 
PI. (1776) 111, t. 56) being of considerable and increas¬ 
ing economic importance, merits careful taxonomic con¬ 
sideration. In the search for the best kinds of Aleurites 
for cultivation even taxonomically trivial variations may 
be important. At present even the species are poorly 
defined taxonomically, though they may be sufficiently 
distinct biologically. Minor variations have been given 
almost no consideration. The reason for this unfortunate 
situation is not indolence of systematists, but rather the 
paucity of specimens in herbaria, due to the general re¬ 
moteness from systematic institutions of the native hab¬ 
itat, and lack of funds. If the last obstacle were removed, 
the other difficulties would soon be remedied. 
The more important papers dealing with the classifi¬ 
cation of the genus are those of Hemsley 1906 and 1914, 
Langeron 1902, J. Mueller 1866, Pax 1910, Pax & Hoff¬ 
mann 1919 and 1931. These papers are all well-known 
except Langeron’s. Unfortunately his dissertation has 
been generally overlooked, perhaps because he described 
no new species. However, he did describe the following 
varieties of Aleurites moluccana (L.) Willd.: 
I. Var. a Rockinghamensis Baillon ex Langeron, p. 
33 (1902). The type, in the herbarium of the Museum 
d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, was collected in Australia. 
This variety is said to differ from the species in the 
angle at which the secondary nerves depart from the 
primary nerves, and in the more compact inflorescence. 
II. Var. £ angusttfolia (Vieillard) Langeron p. 34, 
fig. 8 (1902); based on Aleurites angusttfolia Vieillard in 
Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot. ser. 4, 16 (1862) 60. This plant has, 
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