Euphorbia brachycera |
Euphorbia inundata |
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horned spurge, shorthorn spurge |
Florida pineland spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, with thick rootstock. | Herbs, perennial, with thickened rootstock. | ||||
Stems | erect or ascending, branched, 10–60 cm, usually glabrous, sometimes puberulent. |
erect or ascending, 15–40 cm. |
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Leaves | petiole 0–0.5 mm; blade oblong-elliptic, lanceolate, or oblanceolate to broadly ovate, 5–25 × 2–7 mm, base truncate, rounded, acute, or attenuate, margins entire, apex acute or obtuse, sometimes mucronate, surfaces usually glabrous, sometimes puberulent; venation inconspicuous, only midvein prominent. |
petiole absent or indistinct, blade linear to linear-elliptic or lanceolate, (25–)30–60(–115) × 1.5–14(–15) mm, chartaceous, base attenuate, apex acuminate, acute, or rounded and mucronate; only midvein evident. |
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Involucre | turbinate, campanulate or cupulate, 1.5–2.6 × 1.4–1.7 mm, usually glabrous, sometimes puberulent; glands 4, crescent-shaped to triangular-ovate, 0.5–0.8 × 0.7–1.7 mm, margins usually entire, occasionally slightly crenate to dentate; horns divergent, 0.2–0.4 mm, longer than teeth on gland margin. |
obconic or campanulate, 1.3–3.2 × 1.6–3.6 mm, lobes ovate, oblong, or nearly rectangular, 0.6–1 mm, laciniate-ciliate; glands red to greenish, oblong or nearly circular, 0.8–1 × 1.1–2 mm, distal margins crenulate-erose, undulate, or entire. |
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Staminate flowers | 10–15. |
20–25. |
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Pistillate flower(s) | ovary, usually glabrous, sometimes puberulent; styles 0.5–0.9 mm, 2-fid. |
gynophore exserted 2.6–6.1 mm, calyxlike lobes triangular to subulate, 0.6–1.4 mm; styles connate 1/8 length, 1.3–2.2 mm. |
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Capsules | depressed-ovoid, 2.8–4 × 3.5–4.5 mm, 3-lobed; cocci rounded, smooth, usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely puberulent; columella 2.4–3.3 mm. |
oblate-ovoid, 5.1–6.1 × 6.9–8.6 mm, 3-lobed; columella 3.9–4.7 mm. |
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Seeds | light gray, cylindric ovoid-oblong, 2–2.8(–3) × 1.4–2.2 mm, irregularly shallowly pitted; caruncle sessile to shortly stipitate, conic, 0.4–0.5 × 0.8–1.1 mm. |
brown to blackish, ovoid-globose, circular or faintly 3- or 4-angled in cross section, 2.9–3.4 × 2.7–3 mm, smooth, base flattened or rounded, apex rounded or with inconspicuous blunt point. |
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Cyathial | arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 3–5(–8), 1–4+ times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts lanceolate or ovate to broadly ovate, wider than distal leaves; dichasial bracts distinct, broadly ovate or rhombic to triangular-ovate, base obtuse, margins entire or slightly crenate, apex obtuse, mucronate; axillary cymose branches 0–8. |
arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 2–3, 5–18 cm, 3–8 times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts linear-lanceolate or narrowly ovate, 25–49 × 5–9 mm, margins entire, apex acute or acuminate; dichasial bracts ovate or lanceolate, 6–21 × 2–6 mm, margins entire, apex acute or acuminate; axillary cymose branches 1–5. |
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Cyathia | peduncle 0.4–1 mm. |
peduncle 6–24 mm (often exceeding dichasial bracts). |
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2n | = 28. |
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Euphorbia brachycera |
Euphorbia inundata |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–summer. | |||||
Habitat | Montane areas, canyons, rock crevices, sandy or gravelly slopes, pine-oak woodlands, ponderosa pine and mixed coniferous forests. | |||||
Elevation | 1200–3200 m. (3900–10500 ft.) | |||||
Distribution |
AZ; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; SD; TX; UT; WY; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sonora)
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AL; FL; GA; MS |
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Discussion | Euphorbia brachycera is morphologically extremely variable, and plants from the northern part of the species range have sometimes been distinguished as E. robusta. Euphorbia brachycera is most closely related to the other native, perennial species of subg. Esula in western North America, namely E. chamaesula, E. lurida, E. schizoloba, and E. yaquiana. The name E. montana Engelmann, which has sometimes been applied to E. brachycera, is illegitimate because it is a later homonym of E. montana Rafinesque. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). Euphorbia inundata has a disjunct distribution in the southeastern United States. Allopatric, narrow-leaved populations from the west-central Florida peninsula are segregated as var. garrettii (E. L. Bridges and S. L. Orzell 2002). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 300. | FNA vol. 12, p. 314. | ||||
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Nummulariopsis | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | E. brachycera var. robusta, E. montana var. robusta, E. odontadenia, E. robusta, Tithymalus brachycerus, T. robustus | Galarhoeus inundatus | ||||
Name authority | Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 192. (1859) | Torrey ex Chapman: Fl. South. U.S., 402. (1860) | ||||
Web links |