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tinted euphorbia, tinted woodland spurge

candelilla, wax plant

Habit Herbs, usually biennial, occasionally annual, with taproot. Shrubs, with much-branched, fleshy rootstock.
Stems

erect or ascending, decumbent and often branched near base, 10–40 cm, glabrous.

erect, few branched, 25–50(–100) cm, glabrous or puberulent, pencil-like, in age covered with flaky, exfoliating layer of wax.

Leaves

petiole usually 5–10 mm, 0–1 mm distally;

blade usually oblanceolate to obovate, rarely ovate, 5–30 × 3–10 mm, base broadly attenuate, margins entire, apex usually obtuse to rounded, occasionally slightly retuse, surfaces glabrous;

venation pinnate, midvein prominent.

alternate usually caducous, sometimes persisting;

stipules 0.4–0.5 mm;

petiole absent;

blade ovate to deltate-subulate, 2.5–4 × 1 mm, thick, fleshy, base usually rounded and swollen, rarely cuneate, margins entire, apex acute, surfaces puberulent, adaxial sometimes canescent;

venation inconspicuous.

Involucre

campanulate, 1.7–2.5 × 1.5–2.5 mm, glabrous;

glands 4, crescent-shaped; 0.6–1 × 0.8–1.5 mm;

horns divergent, 0.5–1.1 mm.

campanulate, 1.6–2.2 × 1.6–1.9 mm, puberulent to canescent;

glands 5, pinkish, narrowly oblong to reniform, 0.3–0.4 × 0.8–1 mm;

appendages white to pink, ovate, oblong, or transversely oblong, 1.3–2.5 × 1.4–2.5 mm, usually erose, rarely entire.

Staminate flowers

9–15.

50–70.

Pistillate flowers

ovary glabrous;

styles 0.9–1.3 mm, 2-fid.

ovary glabrous;

styles 0.9–1.1 mm, 2-fid nearly entire length.

Capsules

ovoid-globose, 2.5–3.2 × 3 mm, slightly lobed;

cocci rounded to ± flattened, smooth, glabrous;

columella 1.5–2 mm.

oblong to ovoid, 3.9–4.2 × 3.6–3.9 mm, glabrous;

columella 3.1–3.3 mm.

Seeds

white to gray, broadly oblong-elliptic to ovoid or nearly globose, 1.5–2 × 1.3–1.6 mm, strongly small-pitted;

caruncle irregularly winglike, conic, 0.6–1 × 0.7–0.9 mm.

whitish gray, narrowly ovoid, 2.4–3.1 × 1.4–1.6 mm, irregularly rugose-tuberculate;

caruncle crescent-shaped, 0.3–0.6 × 0.6–0.8 mm.

Cyathial

arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches (2–)3(–4), 1–3+ times 2-branched;

pleiochasial bracts similar in shape and size to distal leaves;

dichasial bracts distinct to basally subconnate, not imbricate, widely ovate, rhombic, or reniform, base cordate, rarely slightly perfoliate, margins entire, apex obtuse to rounded, mucronulate;

axillary cymose branches 0–5.

Cyathia

peduncle 0.5–1 mm.

in axillary congested cymes, near branch tips or solitary at distal nodes;

peduncle 0–1 mm, lanulose.

Euphorbia commutata

Euphorbia antisyphilitica

Phenology Flowering and fruiting spring–summer. Flowering and fruiting year-round in response to sufficient rainfall.
Habitat Bottomland and upland forests, bluffs and ledges, stream banks, glades, rarely fen margins. Desert scrub, frequently on limestone substrates.
Elevation 50–1000 m. (200–3300 ft.) 100–1200 m. (300–3900 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MD; MI; MO; MS; NC; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; VA; WI; WV; ON
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
NM; TX; Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Euphorbia antisyphilitica is the only pencil-stemmed species of Euphorbia occurring in the flora area. The species is characteristic of the Chihuahuan Desert scrub of Mexico from Chihuahua and Coahuila south to Hidalgo and Querétaro, and barely enters into the United States in southern New Mexico (Doña Ana and Lincoln counties) and southwest (Brewster, Hudspeth, Presidio, and Terrell counties) and south (Starr and Webb counties) Texas. The stems are covered in a conspicuous coat of exfoliating wax, and the plants historically have been harvested for this product, although the practice is much less prevalent now. The specific epithet refers to its traditional medicinal use in treating sexually transmitted infections.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 12, p. 300. FNA vol. 12, p. 243.
Parent taxa Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum
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. bifurcata, E. bilobata, E. blodgettii, E. bombensis, E. brachycera, E. capitellata, E. carunculata, E. chaetocalyx, E. chamaesula, E. cinerascens, 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
E. aaron-rossii, E. abramsiana, E. acuta, E. agraria, E. albomarginata, E. alta, E. angusta, E. arizonica, E. astyla, E. austrotexana, E. bicolor, E. bifurcata, 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
Synonyms Galarhoeus austrinus, G. commutatus, Tithymalus commutatus
Name authority Engelmann: in A. Gray, Manual ed. 2, 389. (1856) Zuccarini: Flora 15(2, Beibl.): 58. (1832)
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