Euphorbia capitellata |
Euphorbia brachycera |
|
---|---|---|
capitate sandmat, head sandmat, head spurge |
horned spurge, shorthorn spurge |
|
Habit | Herbs, annual or perennial, with slender to thick and woody rootstock. | Herbs, perennial, with thick rootstock. |
Stems | usually ascending (but ranging from decumbent to erect), 15–50 cm, glabrous, strigillose, or pilose. |
erect or ascending, branched, 10–60 cm, usually glabrous, sometimes puberulent. |
Leaves | opposite; stipules distinct, filiform or divided into 2–3 subulate-filiform segments, without dark, circular glands at base, 0.6–1.5 mm, pilose; petioles 0.6–1.3 mm, glabrous, pilose, or strigillose; blade ovate to narrowly ovate, 4–19 × 2–8 mm, base asymmetric, one side strongly cordate, other side rounded to slightly cordate, margins entire or serrulate (commonly nearly entire with few scattered teeth, often slightly thickened), apex acute, surfaces often with red spot in center, glabrous, pilose, or strigillose; weakly 3-veined from base, usually only midvein conspicuous. |
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. |
Involucre | narrowly obconic to narrowly campanulate, 0.8–1.6 × 0.7–1.3 mm, glabrous or pilose; glands 4, yellow-green to pink or maroon, circular to oblong, 0.2–0.4 × 0.2–0.5 mm; appendages white to light pink, oblong to reniform or flabellate, 0.2–1.1 × 0.5–1.7 mm, surfaces glabrous, distal margin entire. |
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. |
Staminate flowers | 25–40. |
10–15. |
Pistillate flower(s) | ovary glabrous or pilose; styles 0.4–0.6 mm, 2-fid entire length. |
ovary, usually glabrous, sometimes puberulent; styles 0.5–0.9 mm, 2-fid. |
Capsules | ovoid to oblate, 1.3–1.9 × 1.4–2.1 mm, glabrous or pilose; columella 1.1–1.7 mm. |
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. |
Seeds | pink to pinkish gray, narrowly ovoid to narrowly ovoid-oblong, 4-angled or weakly 3-angled in cross section, 0.9–1.5 × 0.5–0.7 mm, irregularly dimpled, sometimes also with faint transverse ridges that do not pass through abaxial keel. |
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. |
Cyathia | in dense, terminal capitate glomerules, with reduced, bractlike leaves subtending cyathia, at tips of main stems and short, leafy, axillary branches; peduncle 0.1–1.2 mm. |
peduncle 0.4–1 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. |
|
2n | = 14. |
= 28. |
Euphorbia capitellata |
Euphorbia brachycera |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting year-round in response to sufficient moisture. | Flowering and fruiting spring–summer. |
Habitat | Gravelly washes, rocky slopes, basaltic talus, disturbed roadsides, primarily desert scrub, desert grasslands, riparian forests, rarely oak-juniper woodlands. | Montane areas, canyons, rock crevices, sandy or gravelly slopes, pine-oak woodlands, ponderosa pine and mixed coniferous forests. |
Elevation | 600–1600 m. (2000–5200 ft.) | 1200–3200 m. (3900–10500 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; NM; TX; Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sinaloa, Sonora)
|
AZ; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; SD; TX; UT; WY; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sonora)
|
Discussion | Euphorbia capitellata is a characteristic herb in the Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona, ranging east to extreme southwestern Texas. During peak flowering, plants are attractive due to the dense clusters of cyathia with well-developed involucral gland appendages. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 262. | FNA vol. 12, p. 300. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Chamaesyce capitellata, C. pycnanthema, E. pycnanthema | E. brachycera var. robusta, E. montana var. robusta, E. odontadenia, E. robusta, Tithymalus brachycerus, T. robustus |
Name authority | Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 188. (1859) | Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 192. (1859) |
Web links |