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candelilla, wax plant

orocopia mountains spurge

Habit Shrubs, with much-branched, fleshy rootstock. Shrubs, with woody rootstock.
Stems

erect, few branched, 25–50(–100) cm, glabrous or puberulent, pencil-like, in age covered with flaky, exfoliating layer of wax.

ascending, diffusely and intricately branched, 15–25 cm, usually puberulent to shortly hirsute, sometimes glabrate, bark grayish.

Leaves

alternate usually caducous, sometimes persisting;

stipules 0.4–0.5 mm;

petiole absent;

blade ovate to deltate-subulate, 2.5–4 × 1 mm, thick, fleshy, base usually rounded and swollen, rarely cuneate, margins entire, apex acute, surfaces puberulent, adaxial sometimes canescent;

venation inconspicuous.

opposite;

stipules distinct or connate, subulate, 0.3–0.5 mm, puberulent;

petiole 0.7–1.1 mm, puberulent to shortly hirsute;

blade ovate or elliptic, 3–9 × 1.5–5 mm, base symmetric to slightly asymmetric, rounded to cuneate, margins entire, apex usually obtuse, sometimes acute, surfaces puberulent to shortly hirsute; 3-veined from base, often only midvein conspicuous.

Involucre

campanulate, 1.6–2.2 × 1.6–1.9 mm, puberulent to canescent;

glands 5, pinkish, narrowly oblong to reniform, 0.3–0.4 × 0.8–1 mm;

appendages white to pink, ovate, oblong, or transversely oblong, 1.3–2.5 × 1.4–2.5 mm, usually erose, rarely entire.

obconic to campanulate, 1.2–1.8 × 1.1–1.4 mm, puberulent to shortly hirsute;

glands 4, yellow to pinkish, elliptic to oblong, 0.3 × 0.4–0.5 mm;

appendages white to pink, 0.2–0.7 × 0.6–1.2 mm, irregularly divided from halfway to nearly base into 4–8 triangular to subulate segments, segments entire.

Staminate flowers

50–70.

25–30.

Pistillate flowers

ovary glabrous;

styles 0.9–1.1 mm, 2-fid nearly entire length.

ovary canescent;

styles 0.3–0.4 mm, 2-fid entire length.

Capsules

oblong to ovoid, 3.9–4.2 × 3.6–3.9 mm, glabrous;

columella 3.1–3.3 mm.

oblate, 1.7–2.3 × 1.8–2.7 mm, puberulent;

columella 1.4–2 mm.

Seeds

whitish gray, narrowly ovoid, 2.4–3.1 × 1.4–1.6 mm, irregularly rugose-tuberculate;

caruncle crescent-shaped, 0.3–0.6 × 0.6–0.8 mm.

tan to grayish, narrowly oblong-ovoid, ± 3–4-angled in cross section, 1.4–1.5 × 0.7–0.9 mm, irregularly dimpled or with faint transverse ridges that do not interrupt abaxial keel.

Cyathia

in axillary congested cymes, near branch tips or solitary at distal nodes;

peduncle 0–1 mm, lanulose.

solitary at distal nodes;

peduncle 0.5–1.7 mm.

Euphorbia antisyphilitica

Euphorbia jaegeri

Phenology Flowering and fruiting year-round in response to sufficient rainfall. Flowering and fruiting fall–spring.
Habitat Desert scrub, frequently on limestone substrates. Desert scrub, hillsides, arroyos, primarily in rock crevices.
Elevation 100–1200 m. (300–3900 ft.) 600–900 m. (2000–3000 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
NM; TX; Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Euphorbia antisyphilitica is the only pencil-stemmed species of Euphorbia occurring in the flora area. The species is characteristic of the Chihuahuan Desert scrub of Mexico from Chihuahua and Coahuila south to Hidalgo and Querétaro, and barely enters into the United States in southern New Mexico (Doña Ana and Lincoln counties) and southwest (Brewster, Hudspeth, Presidio, and Terrell counties) and south (Starr and Webb counties) Texas. The stems are covered in a conspicuous coat of exfoliating wax, and the plants historically have been harvested for this product, although the practice is much less prevalent now. The specific epithet refers to its traditional medicinal use in treating sexually transmitted infections.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Euphorbia jaegeri is known only from the Orocopia Mountains of Riverside County and the Bristol and Marble Mountains of San Bernardino County. The species is one of few shrubby species of sect. Anisophyllum in the flora area.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 12, p. 243. FNA vol. 12, p. 273.
Parent taxa Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum
Sibling taxa
E. aaron-rossii, E. abramsiana, E. acuta, E. agraria, E. albomarginata, E. alta, E. angusta, E. arizonica, E. astyla, E. austrotexana, E. bicolor, E. bifurcata, E. bilobata, E. blodgettii, E. bombensis, E. brachycera, E. capitellata, E. carunculata, E. chaetocalyx, E. chamaesula, E. cinerascens, E. commutata, E. conferta, E. cordifolia, E. corollata, E. crenulata, E. cumulicola, E. cuphosperma, E. curtisii, E. cyathophora, E. cyparissias, E. davidii, E. deltoidea, E. dendroides, E. dentata, E. discoidalis, E. eriantha, E. exigua, E. exserta, E. exstipulata, E. falcata, E. fendleri, E. florida, E. floridana, E. garberi, E. georgiana, E. geyeri, E. glyptosperma, E. golondrina, E. gracillima, E. graminea, E. helioscopia, E. helleri, E. heterophylla, E. hexagona, E. hirta, E. hooveri, E. humistrata, E. hypericifolia, E. hyssopifolia, E. indivisa, E. innocua, E. inundata, E. ipecacuanhae, E. jaegeri, E. jejuna, E. laredana, E. lasiocarpa, E. lata, E. lathyris, E. longicruris, E. lurida, E. macropus, E. maculata, E. marginata, E. meganaesos, E. melanadenia, E. mendezii, E. mercurialina, E. mesembrianthemifolia, E. micromera, E. misera, E. missurica, E. myrsinites, E. nephradenia, E. nutans, E. oblongata, E. ocellata, E. ophthalmica, E. ouachitana, E. parishii, E. parryi, E. pediculifera, E. peplidion, E. peplus, E. perennans, E. pergamena, E. pinetorum, E. platyphyllos, E. platysperma, E. polycarpa, E. polygonifolia, E. polyphylla, E. porteriana, E. prostrata, E. pubentissima, E. purpurea, E. radians, E. rayturneri, E. revoluta, E. roemeriana, E. rosescens, E. schizoloba, E. serpens, E. serpillifolia, E. serrata, E. serrula, E. setiloba, E. simulans, E. spathulata, E. stictospora, E. strictior, E. telephioides, E. terracina, E. tetrapora, E. texana, E. theriaca, E. thymifolia, E. tithymaloides, E. trachysperma, E. trichotoma, E. vallis-mortae, E. velleriflora, E. vermiculata, E. villifera, E. virgata, E. wrightii, E. yaquiana
E. aaron-rossii, E. abramsiana, E. acuta, E. agraria, E. albomarginata, E. alta, E. angusta, E. antisyphilitica, E. arizonica, E. astyla, E. austrotexana, E. bicolor, E. bifurcata, E. bilobata, E. blodgettii, E. bombensis, E. brachycera, E. capitellata, E. carunculata, E. chaetocalyx, E. chamaesula, E. cinerascens, E. commutata, E. conferta, E. cordifolia, E. corollata, E. crenulata, E. cumulicola, E. cuphosperma, E. curtisii, E. cyathophora, E. cyparissias, E. davidii, E. deltoidea, E. dendroides, E. dentata, E. discoidalis, E. eriantha, E. exigua, E. exserta, E. exstipulata, E. falcata, E. fendleri, E. florida, E. floridana, E. garberi, E. georgiana, E. geyeri, E. glyptosperma, E. golondrina, E. gracillima, E. graminea, E. helioscopia, E. helleri, E. heterophylla, E. hexagona, E. hirta, E. hooveri, E. humistrata, E. hypericifolia, E. hyssopifolia, E. indivisa, E. innocua, E. inundata, E. ipecacuanhae, E. jejuna, E. laredana, E. lasiocarpa, E. lata, E. lathyris, E. longicruris, E. lurida, E. macropus, E. maculata, E. marginata, E. meganaesos, E. melanadenia, E. mendezii, E. mercurialina, E. mesembrianthemifolia, E. micromera, E. misera, E. missurica, E. myrsinites, E. nephradenia, E. nutans, E. oblongata, E. ocellata, E. ophthalmica, E. ouachitana, E. parishii, E. parryi, E. pediculifera, E. peplidion, E. peplus, E. perennans, E. pergamena, E. pinetorum, E. platyphyllos, E. platysperma, E. polycarpa, E. polygonifolia, E. polyphylla, E. porteriana, E. prostrata, E. pubentissima, E. purpurea, E. radians, E. rayturneri, E. revoluta, E. roemeriana, E. rosescens, E. schizoloba, E. serpens, E. serpillifolia, E. serrata, E. serrula, E. setiloba, E. simulans, E. spathulata, E. stictospora, E. strictior, E. telephioides, E. terracina, E. tetrapora, E. texana, E. theriaca, E. thymifolia, E. tithymaloides, E. trachysperma, E. trichotoma, E. vallis-mortae, E. velleriflora, E. vermiculata, E. villifera, E. virgata, E. wrightii, E. yaquiana
Name authority Zuccarini: Flora 15(2, Beibl.): 58. (1832) V. W. Steinmann & J. M. André: Aliso 30: 1, figs. 1–4. (2012)
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