Euphorbia antisyphilitica |
Euphorbia villifera |
|
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candelilla, wax plant |
hairy spurge |
|
Habit | Shrubs, with much-branched, fleshy rootstock. | Herbs, annual or perennial, with slender taproot or thickened, woody rootstock. |
Stems | erect, few branched, 25–50(–100) cm, glabrous or puberulent, pencil-like, in age covered with flaky, exfoliating layer of wax. |
usually erect to ascending, rarely prostrate to decumbent, 10–30 cm, papillate, usually villous, sometimes glabrous. |
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, filiform, usually undivided, rarely divided into 2–3 segments), 0.3–0.7 mm, glabrous, papillate; petiole 0.6–1.8 mm, usually villous, rarely glabrous; blade ovate, 3–12 × 2–10 mm, base asymmetric, rounded to slightly cordate, margins entire or serrulate, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces usually villous, rarely glabrous; 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. |
campanulate, 0.7–0.9 × 0.6–1 mm, glabrous or pilose; glands 4, pink, oval, oblong, or trapezoidal, 0.1–0.2 × 0.2 mm; appendages white to pink, flabellate, oblong, ovate, or nearly rectangular, 0.2–0.4 × 0.2–0.6 mm, distal margin entire. |
Staminate flowers | 50–70. |
10–25. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.9–1.1 mm, 2-fid nearly entire length. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.3–0.5 mm, 2-fid 1/2 to nearly entire length. |
Capsules | oblong to ovoid, 3.9–4.2 × 3.6–3.9 mm, glabrous; columella 3.1–3.3 mm. |
oblate-deltoid, cocci often elongated and terminating in an empty portion, 1.5–2 × 2.1–3.1 mm, glabrous; columella 0.9–1.5 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. |
gray-brown to red-brown, ovoid-oblong, weakly 4-angled in cross section, 1–1.4 × 0.6–0.8 mm, smooth, faintly rugose, or with inconspicuous transverse ridges. |
Cyathia | in axillary congested cymes, near branch tips or solitary at distal nodes; peduncle 0–1 mm, lanulose. |
solitary at distal nodes; peduncles 0–1.8 mm. |
Euphorbia antisyphilitica |
Euphorbia villifera |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting year-round in response to sufficient rainfall. | Flowering and fruiting early spring–early winter. |
Habitat | Desert scrub, frequently on limestone substrates. | Riparian forests with walnuts and sycamores, juniper woodlands, pine-oak woodlands, mostly on limestone substrates. |
Elevation | 100–1200 m. (300–3900 ft.) | 100–1400 m. (300–4600 ft.) |
Distribution |
NM; TX; Mexico
|
TX; Mexico; Central America |
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.) |
Although Euphorbia villifera has been reported from New Mexico (W. C. Martin and C. R. Hutchins 1980), no vouchers to verify its presence there were located. In Texas, E. villifera is known from the Edwards Plateau westward into the trans-Pecos region. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 243. | FNA vol. 12, p. 293. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Chamaesyce stanfieldii, C. villifera, E. stanfieldii, E. villifera var. nuda | |
Name authority | Zuccarini: Flora 15(2, Beibl.): 58. (1832) | Scheele: Linnaea 22: 153. (1849) |
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