Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Herbaceous perennial with latex, arising from woody tuberous roots, 0.3-2 m tall, with glabrous foliage.

Leaves: Alternate, deeply lobed palmate leaves with 5-7 lobes, lobes only at or below the middle of the leaf blades, narrow and tapering to the apex, margins lightly toothed, borne on long petioles, to 10 cm long, stipules small and subulate.

Flowers: Borne on racemose inflorescences, several to many staminate flowers with varying lengths of stamens, calyx with 5 lobes, pistillate flowers borne at the base of the raceme, the calyx dropping off early, ovary solitary, with 3-lobed locules, pale to greenish yellow.

Fruits: Large seeds with an appendage near the hilum.

Ecology: Found on arid flats, along arroyos, and on slopes from 3,000-5,000 ft (914-1524 m); flowering June-September.

Distribution: se AZ, sw NM; south to c MEX.

Notes: Distinguished by being a perennial herb with milky sap, sometimes becoming bushy; the lobes of the palmate leaves located at or below the middle of the leaf, the tips of the leaves tapering; and separate female and male flowers on the same plant. The other species of Manihot, M. davisiae, has leaves which are broadly lobed towards the apex.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Manihot comes from manioc, while angustiloba means having narrow lobes.

Synonyms: Manihot acutiloba

Editor: LCrumbacher 2011, FSCoburn 2015