Euphorbia agraria |
Euphorbia purpurea |
|
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urban spurge |
Darlington's glade spurge, glade or Darlington's glade spurge |
|
Habit | Herbs, perennial, with slender, spreading rootstock. | Herbs, perennial, with thick rootstock. |
Stems | erect or ascending, unbranched or branched, 30–90 cm, glabrous. |
erect, unbranched, 70–100(–130) cm, glabrous. |
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. |
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 | 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. |
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 | 15–20. |
10–15. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 1.2–2 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary glabrous; styles 3–3.5 mm, 2-fid. |
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. |
globose, 4.5–5.2 × 6–6.8 mm, 3-lobed; cocci rounded, verrucose, sometimes minutely so, glabrous; columella 4–4.8 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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
Cyathia | peduncle 0–2 mm. |
peduncle 0–1 mm. |
Euphorbia agraria |
Euphorbia purpurea |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–summer. | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. |
Habitat | Grasslands, roadside banks, pastures. | Dry to moist forests and slopes, rock outcrops, swamps or seeps, especially over calcareous rocks. |
Elevation | 200–1600 m. (700–5200 ft.) | 50–1100 m. (200–3600 ft.) |
Distribution |
KS; MT; NE; NY; PA; WA; WY; AB; SK; Europe [Introduced in North America]
|
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. 298. | FNA vol. 12, p. 308. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Tithymalus agrarius | Agaloma purpurea, Galarhoeus darlingtonii |
Name authority | M. Bieberstein: Fl. Taur.-Caucas. 1: 375. (1808) | (Rafinesque) Fernald: Rhodora 34: 25. (1932) |
Web links |