Euphorbia brachycera |
Euphorbia oblongata |
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horned spurge, shorthorn spurge |
Balkan spurge, egg-leaf spurge, oblong spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, with thick rootstock. | Herbs, perennial, with woody taproot. |
Stems | erect or ascending, branched, 10–60 cm, usually glabrous, sometimes puberulent. |
erect, unbranched or densely branching, 80 cm, often densely villous (especially young stems and pleiochasial branches). |
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; blade oblong to narrowly obovate or lanceolate, 15–70 × 6–25 mm, base rounded or truncate, margins finely serrulate, apex obtuse, mucronulate, surfaces glabrous; venation inconspicuously pinnate, midvein prominent. |
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. |
cupulate to slightly turbinate, 1.5–2.5 × 1.3–1.5 mm, glabrous; glands 2–3, elliptic, 0.6–0.8 × 0.8–1.2 mm; horns absent. |
Staminate flowers | 10–15. |
15–40. |
Pistillate flower(s) | ovary, usually glabrous, sometimes puberulent; styles 0.5–0.9 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary glabrous; styles 1.5–2 mm, 2-fid. |
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. |
globose, 3–4.5 × 3–4.5 mm, slightly 3-lobed; cocci rounded, verrucose-tuberculate, glabrous; columella 2.5–3.3 mm. |
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, ovoid, 2.4–2.6 × 1.3–2 mm, smooth, caruncle reniform, 0.2–0.3 × 0.8–0.9 mm. |
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 3–5, each 2–3 times 2–4-branched; pleiochasial bracts ovate, similar in size to distal leaves; dichasial bracts distinct, ovate to suborbiculate, base truncate or rounded, margins entire or finely denticulate, apex obtuse, sometimes mucronulate; axillary cymose branches 0–4. |
Cyathia | peduncle 0.4–1 mm. |
peduncle 1–5 mm. |
2n | = 28. |
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Euphorbia brachycera |
Euphorbia oblongata |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–summer. | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. |
Habitat | Montane areas, canyons, rock crevices, sandy or gravelly slopes, pine-oak woodlands, ponderosa pine and mixed coniferous forests. | Waste areas, disturbed sites, roadsides, fields, pastures. |
Elevation | 1200–3200 m. (3900–10500 ft.) | 30–900 m. (100–3000 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; SD; TX; UT; WY; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sonora)
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CA; OR; WA; s Europe [Introduced in North America]
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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.) |
Euphorbia oblongata is listed as a noxious weed by the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 300. | FNA vol. 12, p. 305. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. brachycera var. robusta, E. montana var. robusta, E. odontadenia, E. robusta, Tithymalus brachycerus, T. robustus | Tithymalus oblongatus |
Name authority | Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 192. (1859) | Grisebach: Spic. Fl. Rumel. 1: 136. (1843) |
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