Euphorbia commutata |
Euphorbia purpurea |
|
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tinted euphorbia, tinted woodland spurge |
Darlington's glade spurge, glade or Darlington's glade spurge |
|
Habit | Herbs, usually biennial, occasionally annual, with taproot. | Herbs, perennial, with thick rootstock. |
Stems | erect or ascending, decumbent and often branched near base, 10–40 cm, glabrous. |
erect, unbranched, 70–100(–130) cm, glabrous. |
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. |
petiole 0–2 mm; blade lance-oblong to oblanceolate-oblong, 50–100 × 13–30 mm, base attenuate to cuneate, margins entire, apex usually acute, sometimes obtuse to rounded, minutely apiculate, abaxial surface glabrate to sparsely pilose, adaxial surface glabrous; venation pinnate, midvein prominent. |
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. |
narrowly campanulate, 2.1–3 × 3–4.2 mm, glabrous; glands 5, elliptic to slightly reniform, 1–1.2 × 1.5–2.1 mm; horns absent. |
Staminate flowers | 9–15. |
10–15. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.9–1.3 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary glabrous; styles 3–3.5 mm, 2-fid. |
Capsules | ovoid-globose, 2.5–3.2 × 3 mm, slightly lobed; cocci rounded to ± flattened, smooth, glabrous; columella 1.5–2 mm. |
globose, 4.5–5.2 × 6–6.8 mm, 3-lobed; cocci rounded, verrucose, sometimes minutely so, glabrous; columella 4–4.8 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. |
mottled silver-brown, ovoid-globose, 3–4 × 2.5–3.5 mm, smooth; caruncle subconic, reniform, 0.8–1.1 × 1.4–1.6 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. |
arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 3–6, each unbranched or 1–2 times 2-branched, occasionally appearing pendent; pleiochasial bracts lance-ovate, shorter than distal leaves; dichasial bracts distinct, cordate-deltate to reniform, base subcordate, margins entire, apex rounded; axillary cymose branches 0–10. |
Cyathia | peduncle 0.5–1 mm. |
peduncle 0–1 mm. |
Euphorbia commutata |
Euphorbia purpurea |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–summer. | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. |
Habitat | Bottomland and upland forests, bluffs and ledges, stream banks, glades, rarely fen margins. | Dry to moist forests and slopes, rock outcrops, swamps or seeps, especially over calcareous rocks. |
Elevation | 50–1000 m. (200–3300 ft.) | 50–1100 m. (200–3600 ft.) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MD; MI; MO; MS; NC; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; VA; WI; WV; ON
|
DE; MD; NC; NJ; OH; PA; VA; WV |
Discussion | Euphorbia purpurea is primarily an eastern Appalachian forest species, but it also occurs in Adams, Highland, and Pike counties in southern Ohio. It is listed as endangered by Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and is in the Center for Plant Conservation's National Collection of Endangered Plants. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 300. | FNA vol. 12, p. 308. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Galarhoeus austrinus, G. commutatus, Tithymalus commutatus | Agaloma purpurea, Galarhoeus darlingtonii |
Name authority | Engelmann: in A. Gray, Manual ed. 2, 389. (1856) | (Rafinesque) Fernald: Rhodora 34: 25. (1932) |
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