Euphorbia abramsiana |
Euphorbia telephioides |
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Abrams' sandmat, Abrams' spurge |
telephus spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, annual, with slender taproot. | Herbs, perennial, with thickened rootstock. |
Stems | prostrate, mat-forming, 10–35(–50) cm, shortly pilose or puberulent at least proximally, often glabrous distally. |
erect or ascending, 20–30 cm. |
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 usually absent or indistinct, occasionally to 5.5 mm, blade elliptic or obovate, 31–60 × 7–32 mm, thick and fleshy, base attenuate or cuneate, apex acute, obtuse, or mucronate; venation pinnate with 8–13 lateral veins, these sometimes obscure and only midvein evident. |
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. |
campanulate, 1.3–2.3 × 1.6–2.5 mm, lobes ovate to oblong, 0.5–0.7 mm, ciliate; glands purple-red, oblong to trapezoidal, 0.5–0.7 × 0.8–1.2 mm, distal margins entire or crenulate. |
Staminate flowers | 3–5. |
25–30. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.1–0.3 mm, 2-fid nearly entire length. |
gynophore exserted 1.9–3.2 mm, calyxlike lobes triangular, 0.2–0.7 mm; styles connate 1/4 length, 1.3–1.5 mm. |
Capsules | ellipsoid to ovoid, 1.3–1.5 × 1.1–1.5 mm, glabrous; columella 1–1.3 mm. |
ovoid-oblate, 5.2–5.6 × 6.6–8.3 mm, 3-lobed; columella 3.9–4.1 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. |
blackish to dark brown, ovoid to globose-ovoid, circular in cross section, 3.2–3.5 × 2.6–3.1 mm, smooth, base rounded to flattened, apex rounded, occasionally with low point. |
Cyathia | solitary at distal nodes of primary stems or at nodes of short congested axillary branchlets; peduncle 0.2–0.5 mm. |
peduncle 3–9.2 mm (often exceeding subcyathial leaves). |
Cyathial | arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches (2–)3, 5–13 cm, 3–7 times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts ovate to oblong, 17–31 × 8–15 mm, margins entire, apex acute or obtuse; dichasial bracts ovate, 5–19 × 3–9 mm, margins entire, apex acute or obtuse; axillary cymose branches 1–5. |
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Euphorbia abramsiana |
Euphorbia telephioides |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting summer–fall. | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. |
Habitat | Desert scrub and desert grasslands. | Scrubby pine flatwoods, grasslands, disturbed areas, often in sandy soils. |
Elevation | -40–1400 m. (-100–4600 ft.) | 0–20 m. (0–100 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NM; TX; Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora)
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FL |
Discussion | Euphorbia telephioides, federally listed as threatened, is known only from Bay, Franklin, and Gulf counties in the Apalachicola region of the east-central Florida panhandle. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 259. | FNA vol. 12, p. 316. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Nummulariopsis |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Chamaesyce abramsiana | Galarhoeus telephioides |
Name authority | L. C. Wheeler: Bull. S. Calif. Acad. Sci. 33: 109. (1934) | Chapman: Fl. South. U.S., 402. (1860) |
Web links |