Euphorbia brachycera |
Euphorbia revoluta |
|
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horned spurge, shorthorn spurge |
revolute spurge, threadstem sandmat, threadstem spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, with thick rootstock. | Herbs, annual, with slender taproot. |
Stems | erect or ascending, branched, 10–60 cm, usually glabrous, sometimes puberulent. |
erect, 5–25 cm, glabrous. |
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. |
opposite; stipules distinct, subulate-filiform, entire, 0.5–0.9 mm, glabrous; petiole 0.6–1.1 mm, glabrous; blade linear, 6–27 × 0.6–1.2 mm, base symmetric, attenuate, margins entire, revolute, apex acute, sometimes mucronate, surfaces glabrous; only midvein conspicuous. |
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 to campanulate, 0.7–0.9 × 0.5–0.7 mm, glabrous; glands 4, pink to dark purple, nearly circular to oblong or reniform, 0.1 × 0.1–0.2 mm; appendages white, oblong, nearly circular, ovate, deltate, or forming thin margin around gland, rarely absent, (0–)0.1–0.2 × (0–)0.1–0.3 mm, distal margin entire. |
Staminate flowers | 10–15. |
5–10. |
Pistillate flower(s) | ovary, usually glabrous, sometimes puberulent; styles 0.5–0.9 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.2–0.3 mm, unbranched. |
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. |
ovoid to subglobose, 1.5–1.8 × 1.6–1.8 mm, glabrous; columella 1.1–1.5 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. |
whitish, brick red, light gray, or light brown, narrowly to broadly ovoid, 4-angled in cross section, 0.9–1.4 × 0.7–1 mm, nearly smooth, rugulose, with faint transverse ridges, or with 2–3 well-defined transverse ridges separated by shallow depressions. |
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. |
|
Cyathia | peduncle 0.4–1 mm. |
solitary at distal nodes; peduncles absent or to 1.5 mm. |
2n | = 28. |
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Euphorbia brachycera |
Euphorbia revoluta |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–summer. | Flowering and fruiting summer–late fall. |
Habitat | Montane areas, canyons, rock crevices, sandy or gravelly slopes, pine-oak woodlands, ponderosa pine and mixed coniferous forests. | Desert scrub, sagebrush scrub, juniper woodlands, Joshua tree-pinyon pine woodlands, oak woodlands, grasslands, chaparral, pine-oak forests. |
Elevation | 1200–3200 m. (3900–10500 ft.) | 600–2500 m. (2000–8200 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; SD; TX; UT; WY; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sonora)
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AZ; CA; CO; NM; NV; TX; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sonora, Zacatecas)
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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 revoluta is a distinctive, easily recognizable species by virtue of the combination of unbranched styles and linear leaves with symmetric bases. The species ranges through northern Mexico into the southwestern United States and is composed of three well-marked, geographically distinct races that can be distinguished by their seeds. The first of these races occurs primarily in pine-oak forest of the Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico (Chihuahua and Sonora) and barely enters the flora area in the Huachuca Mountains of southeastern Arizona; the seeds are brick red and nearly smooth. The second race is widespread in the Chihuahuan Desert from northern Mexico to southeastern New Mexico and southwestern Texas; its seeds are whitish to light gray and possess two or three well-defined transverse ridges separated by shallow depressions. The third race corresponds to the type collection and is characterized by grayish white to light brown seeds that are rugulose or with faint transverse ridges; it occurs in northwestern Mexico (Baja California and Sonora) and throughout the arid southwestern United States. It is probable that further study will justify the taxonomic segregation of these races as either distinct species or subspecies. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 300. | FNA vol. 12, p. 286. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. brachycera var. robusta, E. montana var. robusta, E. odontadenia, E. robusta, Tithymalus brachycerus, T. robustus | Chamaesyce revoluta |
Name authority | Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 192. (1859) | Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 186. (1859) |
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