Euphorbia agraria |
Euphorbia misera |
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urban spurge |
cliff spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, with slender, spreading rootstock. | Shrubs, soft wooded, with woody rootstock. |
Stems | erect or ascending, unbranched or branched, 30–90 cm, glabrous. |
erect to ascending, often gnarled and scraggly, branched, with conspicuous knobby short shoots, 70–150 cm, puberulent-tomentose, bark grayish red to light gray. |
Leaves | petiole absent; blade oblong-elliptic, 20–65 × 9–20 mm, base truncate to auriculate, margins entire, apex obtuse to rounded, surfaces glabrous; venation conspicuously pinnate, midvein prominent. |
alternate, well spaced on long shoots or fasciculate on short shoots; stipules 0.6–1.1 mm; petiole 4–12(–19) mm, slender, puberulent to shortly pilose; blade oblong, ovate, orbiculate, elliptic, or obovate, 6–24 × 5–21 mm, base rounded to cuneate, margins entire, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces puberulent-tomentose; venation conspicuous. |
Involucre | campanulate, 2.2–3 × 1.8–2 mm, glabrous; glands 4, crescent-shaped; 0.6–1 × 1–2 mm; horns slightly divergent to convergent, 0.1–0.2 mm. |
campanulate, 1.4–3.8 × 2.1–4.4 mm, puberulent-tomentose; glands 5, yellow to reddish, oblong to reniform, 0.7–1.3 × 1.1–2.6 mm; appendages green-yellow to yellowish or whitish, oblong to transversely oblong, 0.6–1.9 × 1.3–3.8 mm, crenulate to erose. |
Staminate flowers | 15–20. |
40–50. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 1.2–2 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary glabrous or puberulent; styles 1.6–2.7 mm, 2-fid at apex. |
Capsules | globose, 2–2.8 × 2.2–2.7 mm, 3-lobed; cocci rounded, smooth except finely granulate toward abaxial line, glabrous; columella 2.1–2.7 mm. |
oblate, 4.6–5.1 × 6.1–6.7 mm, usually glabrous or glabrescent, occasionally puberulent; columella 2.8–3.6 mm. |
Seeds | gray or whitish, ovoid-oblong, 2–2.1 × 1.2–1.3 mm, smooth; caruncle ± rounded and flattened, 0.8 × 0.6 mm. |
grayish, subglobose to ovoid, rounded in cross section, 2.7–3.3 × 2.5–2.8 mm, foveolate; caruncle absent. |
Cyathial | arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 8–15, 1–2 times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts similar in shape but shorter and narrower than distal leaves; dichasial bracts distinct, rhombic to reniform, base obtuse, margins entire, apex obtuse, mucronate; axillary cymose branches 12–23. |
|
Cyathia | peduncle 0–2 mm. |
usually solitary on short shoots, peduncle 1.8–10.5 mm, puberulent-tomentose. |
Euphorbia agraria |
Euphorbia misera |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–summer. | Flowering and fruiting year-round (but most prolific after winter rains). |
Habitat | Grasslands, roadside banks, pastures. | Rocky soils, sometimes in crevices of vertical cliff faces, coastal scrub, maritime desert scrub, arid desert scrub. |
Elevation | 200–1600 m. (700–5200 ft.) | 0–400 m. (0–1300 ft.) |
Distribution |
KS; MT; NE; NY; PA; WA; WY; AB; SK; Europe [Introduced in North America]
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CA; Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora)
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Discussion | Euphorbia misera is relatively infrequent within the flora area, known primarily from coastal southern California and the Channel Islands (although a relictual inland population occurs in the Little San Bernardino Mountains). The species has been considered worthy of conservation, but appears to be under little threat, especially in Mexico where it is frequent and often locally abundant. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 298. | FNA vol. 12, p. 249. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Tithymalus agrarius | |
Name authority | M. Bieberstein: Fl. Taur.-Caucas. 1: 375. (1808) | Bentham: Bot. Voy. Sulphur, 51. (1844) |
Web links |