Flora of North America species comparison

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Euphorbia bifurcata

fork spurge
Habit Herbs, annual, with slender, fibrous taproot.
Stems

erect, 20–70 cm, glabrous or with few scattered spreading hairs;

branches arcuate, branching appearing dichotomous.
Leaves

usually alternate, occasionally opposite at proximalmost node;

petiole 15–49 mm, glabrous;

blade usually ovate, rarely oblong or elliptic, 13–54 × 7–38 mm, base usually rounded to broadly cuneate, rarely truncate, margins finely serrulate, apex obtuse, surfaces glabrous or with few scattered hairs;

venation pinnate, midvein prominent.
Involucre

tubular or obconic, 1–1.7 × 0.7–1.4 mm, glabrous except for few hairs on lobes;

involucral lobes divided into several linear, smooth lobes;

glands 1(–3), greenish, sessile and broadly attached, 0.3–0.4 × 0.4–0.8 mm, opening oblong to subcircular, glabrous;

appendages petaloid, white, elliptic, oblong, transversely oblong, or forming thin, lunate rim on gland margin, not incurved and covering glands, 0.3–0.9 × 0.6–1.3 mm, entire, undulate or slightly lobed, glabrous.
Staminate flowers

20–30.
Pistillate flowers

ovary glabrous;

styles 0.6–1 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length.
Capsules

oblate, 2.8–3.1 × 3.6–4.5 mm, glabrous;

columella 1.9–2.4 mm.
Seeds

brown to blackish, ovoid, rounded in cross section, 1.9–2.4 × 1.5–1.8 mm, irregularly and coarsely tuberculate;

caruncle absent or rudimentary.
Cyathial

arrangement: terminal dichasial branches 2, few-branched (weakly defined);

pleiochasial bracts 2–3, opposite or whorled, wholly green, similar in shape and size to distal leaves;

dichasial bracts smaller than distal leaves, often white at base.
Cyathia

peduncle 0.9–3.5(–6.2) mm.

Euphorbia bifurcata
Phenology Flowering and fruiting summer–fall.
Habitat Riparian areas with cottonwoods and willows, pinyon pine woodlands, pine-oak forests, Douglas fir forests with pines.
Elevation 1900–2300 m. (6200–7500 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
NM; TX; Mexico; Central America (Guatemala)
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Euphorbia bifurcata is found in the mountains of southern New Mexico (Doña Ana, Grant, Lincoln, Otero, and Sierra counties) and trans-Pecos Texas (Brewster, Jeff Davis, and Presidio counties).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 319.
Parent taxa Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Poinsettia
Sibling taxa
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. 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
Name authority Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 190. (1859)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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