Euphorbia abramsiana |
Euphorbia purpurea |
|
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Abrams' sandmat, Abrams' spurge |
Darlington's glade spurge, glade or Darlington's glade spurge |
|
Habit | Herbs, annual, with slender taproot. | Herbs, perennial, with thick rootstock. |
Stems | prostrate, mat-forming, 10–35(–50) cm, shortly pilose or puberulent at least proximally, often glabrous distally. |
erect, unbranched, 70–100(–130) cm, glabrous. |
Leaves | opposite; stipules distinct, divided into 5–7 subulate-filiform segments, 0.6–1.1 mm, usually glabrous, rarely pilose; petiole 0.5–1 mm, glabrous; blade ovate, elliptic-oblong, or slightly ovate-cordate, 3–11 × 2–5 mm, base asymmetric, truncate to hemicordate, margins serrulate at least toward apex, often entire toward base, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces sometimes with red spot in center, glabrous; usually only the midvein conspicuous. |
petiole 0–2 mm; blade lance-oblong to oblanceolate-oblong, 50–100 × 13–30 mm, base attenuate to cuneate, margins entire, apex usually acute, sometimes obtuse to rounded, minutely apiculate, abaxial surface glabrate to sparsely pilose, adaxial surface glabrous; venation pinnate, midvein prominent. |
Involucre | obconic, 0.5–0.6 × 0.4–0.5 mm, glabrous; glands 4, yellowish to pink, circular to oblong, 0.1 × 0.1–0.2 mm; appendages absent, or white to pink, semicircular to broadly ovate, to 0.1 × 0.2 mm, distal margin entire or shallowly lobed. |
narrowly campanulate, 2.1–3 × 3–4.2 mm, glabrous; glands 5, elliptic to slightly reniform, 1–1.2 × 1.5–2.1 mm; horns absent. |
Staminate flowers | 3–5. |
10–15. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.1–0.3 mm, 2-fid nearly entire length. |
ovary glabrous; styles 3–3.5 mm, 2-fid. |
Capsules | ellipsoid to ovoid, 1.3–1.5 × 1.1–1.5 mm, glabrous; columella 1–1.3 mm. |
globose, 4.5–5.2 × 6–6.8 mm, 3-lobed; cocci rounded, verrucose, sometimes minutely so, glabrous; columella 4–4.8 mm. |
Seeds | light gray to light brown, narrowly ovoid to ovoid, 4-angled in cross section, 1–1.2 × 0.6–0.7 mm, with 3–5 prominent transverse ridges that often interrupt abaxial keel. |
mottled silver-brown, ovoid-globose, 3–4 × 2.5–3.5 mm, smooth; caruncle subconic, reniform, 0.8–1.1 × 1.4–1.6 mm. |
Cyathia | solitary at distal nodes of primary stems or at nodes of short congested axillary branchlets; peduncle 0.2–0.5 mm. |
peduncle 0–1 mm. |
Cyathial | arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 3–6, each unbranched or 1–2 times 2-branched, occasionally appearing pendent; pleiochasial bracts lance-ovate, shorter than distal leaves; dichasial bracts distinct, cordate-deltate to reniform, base subcordate, margins entire, apex rounded; axillary cymose branches 0–10. |
|
Euphorbia abramsiana |
Euphorbia purpurea |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting summer–fall. | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. |
Habitat | Desert scrub and desert grasslands. | Dry to moist forests and slopes, rock outcrops, swamps or seeps, especially over calcareous rocks. |
Elevation | -40–1400 m. (-100–4600 ft.) | 50–1100 m. (200–3600 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NM; TX; Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora)
|
DE; MD; NC; NJ; OH; PA; VA; WV |
Discussion | Euphorbia purpurea is primarily an eastern Appalachian forest species, but it also occurs in Adams, Highland, and Pike counties in southern Ohio. It is listed as endangered by Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and is in the Center for Plant Conservation's National Collection of Endangered Plants. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 259. | FNA vol. 12, p. 308. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Chamaesyce abramsiana | Agaloma purpurea, Galarhoeus darlingtonii |
Name authority | L. C. Wheeler: Bull. S. Calif. Acad. Sci. 33: 109. (1934) | (Rafinesque) Fernald: Rhodora 34: 25. (1932) |
Web links |