Euphorbia commutata |
Euphorbia telephioides |
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tinted euphorbia, tinted woodland spurge |
telephus spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, usually biennial, occasionally annual, with taproot. | Herbs, perennial, with thickened rootstock. |
Stems | erect or ascending, decumbent and often branched near base, 10–40 cm, glabrous. |
erect or ascending, 20–30 cm. |
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 usually absent or indistinct, occasionally to 5.5 mm, blade elliptic or obovate, 31–60 × 7–32 mm, thick and fleshy, base attenuate or cuneate, apex acute, obtuse, or mucronate; venation pinnate with 8–13 lateral veins, these sometimes obscure and only midvein evident. |
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, 1.3–2.3 × 1.6–2.5 mm, lobes ovate to oblong, 0.5–0.7 mm, ciliate; glands purple-red, oblong to trapezoidal, 0.5–0.7 × 0.8–1.2 mm, distal margins entire or crenulate. |
Staminate flowers | 9–15. |
25–30. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.9–1.3 mm, 2-fid. |
gynophore exserted 1.9–3.2 mm, calyxlike lobes triangular, 0.2–0.7 mm; styles connate 1/4 length, 1.3–1.5 mm. |
Capsules | ovoid-globose, 2.5–3.2 × 3 mm, slightly lobed; cocci rounded to ± flattened, smooth, glabrous; columella 1.5–2 mm. |
ovoid-oblate, 5.2–5.6 × 6.6–8.3 mm, 3-lobed; columella 3.9–4.1 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. |
blackish to dark brown, ovoid to globose-ovoid, circular in cross section, 3.2–3.5 × 2.6–3.1 mm, smooth, base rounded to flattened, apex rounded, occasionally with low point. |
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 (2–)3, 5–13 cm, 3–7 times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts ovate to oblong, 17–31 × 8–15 mm, margins entire, apex acute or obtuse; dichasial bracts ovate, 5–19 × 3–9 mm, margins entire, apex acute or obtuse; axillary cymose branches 1–5. |
Cyathia | peduncle 0.5–1 mm. |
peduncle 3–9.2 mm (often exceeding subcyathial leaves). |
Euphorbia commutata |
Euphorbia telephioides |
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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. | Scrubby pine flatwoods, grasslands, disturbed areas, often in sandy soils. |
Elevation | 50–1000 m. (200–3300 ft.) | 0–20 m. (0–100 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
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FL |
Discussion | Euphorbia telephioides, federally listed as threatened, is known only from Bay, Franklin, and Gulf counties in the Apalachicola region of the east-central Florida panhandle. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 300. | FNA vol. 12, p. 316. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Nummulariopsis |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Galarhoeus austrinus, G. commutatus, Tithymalus commutatus | Galarhoeus telephioides |
Name authority | Engelmann: in A. Gray, Manual ed. 2, 389. (1856) | Chapman: Fl. South. U.S., 402. (1860) |
Web links |