Euphorbia commutata |
Euphorbia wrightii |
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tinted euphorbia, tinted woodland spurge |
Wright's spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, usually biennial, occasionally annual, with taproot. | Herbs, perennial with cylindric rootstock or elongated tubers. |
Stems | erect or ascending, decumbent and often branched near base, 10–40 cm, glabrous. |
erect, branched, densely clumped, previous year’s dead stems often persistent, 20–50 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. |
alternate, persisting, spreading or ascending; stipules 0.1–0.3 mm; petiole absent; blade linear to linear-filiform, (17–)20–40 × 1–2.5 mm, base cuneate, slightly sheathing stem, margins entire, apex broadly acute to rounded, abaxial surface glabrous or sparsely villous, adaxial surface glabrous; venation obscure, only midvein conspicuous on wider leaves. |
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, 1.5–2 × 1.8–2.5 mm, pilose; glands 5, green, broadly elliptic, 0.7–0.8 × 1 mm; appendages white to pink, orbiculate, 0.5–1 × 1.3–1.8 mm, coarsely erose. |
Staminate flowers | 9–15. |
20–25. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.9–1.3 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary strigose to tomentose; styles 1 mm, 2-fid at apex. |
Capsules | ovoid-globose, 2.5–3.2 × 3 mm, slightly lobed; cocci rounded to ± flattened, smooth, glabrous; columella 1.5–2 mm. |
depressed-globose, 1 locule usually aborting, 2.5(–3) × 2.7–3.3(–5) mm, sparsely tomentose; columella 2.6–3 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. |
gray-green to gray-brown, globose-ovoid, 2.2–2.9 × 1.8–2 mm, shallowly and obscurely pitted; caruncle absent. |
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. |
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Cyathia | peduncle 0.5–1 mm. |
usually in terminal dichasia, rarely pleiochasia; peduncle (3–)5–15 mm, all peduncles and cyathia persistent on plant, glabrous. |
Euphorbia commutata |
Euphorbia wrightii |
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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. | Open grasslands and uplands, often on limestone outcrops. |
Elevation | 50–1000 m. (200–3300 ft.) | 500–1000 m. (1600–3300 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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TX; Mexico (Coahuila) |
Discussion | Within the flora area, Euphorbia wrightii is endemic to the western Edwards Plateau and adjacent rolling plains in western Texas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 300. | FNA vol. 12, p. 251. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Galarhoeus austrinus, G. commutatus, Tithymalus commutatus | |
Name authority | Engelmann: in A. Gray, Manual ed. 2, 389. (1856) | Torrey & A. Gray: in War Department [U.S.], Pacif. Railr. Rep. 2(4): 174. (1857) |
Web links |