Euphorbia crenulata |
Euphorbia helioscopia |
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Chinese caps, western wood spurge |
euphorbe réveille-matin, mad woman's milk, summer spurge, sun spurge, wart spurge, wartweed |
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Habit | Herbs, usually biennial, occasionally annual, with taproot. | Herbs, annual, with taproot. |
Stems | erect, sometimes decumbent at base, unbranched or branched, 12–40 cm, glabrous. |
erect, unbranched or branched, 5–45 cm, usually glabrous or sparsely pilose. |
Leaves | petiole 0–2 mm; blade obovate-spatulate to oblanceolate, 8–22 × 3–10 mm, base broadly attenuate, margins entire or slightly crisped, apex obtuse to ± rounded, minutely apiculate, surfaces glabrous; venation pinnate, midvein prominent. |
petiole absent or to 0.5 mm; blade obovate-spatulate, 4–40 × 2–25 mm, base cuneate, attenuate, or auriculate, margins serrulate, apex rounded, surfaces glabrous; venation pinnate, midvein prominent. |
Involucre | campanulate, 1.8–2.1 × 1.6–1.8 mm, glabrous; glands 4, crescent-shaped, 0.6–1.2 × 1.5–2.3 mm; horns slightly divergent to slightly convergent, 0.4–0.6 mm. |
cupulate, 1.5–2 × 0.7–1.1 mm, glabrous; glands 4, elliptic, 0.2–0.5 × 0.5–1 mm; horns absent. |
Staminate flowers | 11–18. |
10–15. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.9–1.4 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.7–1 mm, 2-fid. |
Capsules | subovoid, 2.5–3 × 3.5–4 mm, 3-lobed; cocci rounded, smooth or puncticulate, glabrous; columella 1.9–2.3 mm. |
depressed-globose, 2.5–4 × 3.2–4.2 mm, clearly 3-lobed; cocci rounded, smooth, glabrous; columella 0.9–1.1 mm. |
Seeds | cream and brown mottled, oblong-ovoid to nearly globose, 2–2.5 × 1.4–1.7 mm, usually irregularly vermiculate-ridged and large-pitted, occasionally tuberculate or nearly smooth; caruncle reniform, conic, 0.5–0.6 × 0.5–0.7 mm. |
dark brown to blackish, subovoid, 1.6–2.2 × 1.5–1.9 mm, reticulate; caruncle elliptic, 0.9–1.1 × 0.4–0.5 mm. |
Cyathial | arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 3, each 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts obovate to orbiculate-reniform, wider than distal leaves; dichasial bracts usually connate 1/3–1/2 length (often only on one side), rarely only connate basally, triangular ovate to reniform, base truncate to perfoliate, margins erose-denticulate to subentire, apex rounded to obtuse, rarely apiculate; axillary cymose branches 0–5. |
arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches (3–)5, each 1–2 times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts obovate, wider than distal leaves; dichasial bracts distinct, obovate or rhombic, ± oblique, base rounded, truncate, or attenuate, margins serrulate, apex rounded; axillary cymose branches 0. |
Cyathia | peduncle 0–0.5 mm. |
peduncle 0.2–1 mm. |
Euphorbia crenulata |
Euphorbia helioscopia |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–summer. | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. |
Habitat | Conifer, oak, and mixed forests, coastal scrub, grasslands, barrens and outcrops, roadsides. | Roadsides, waste places. |
Elevation | 30–1800 m. (100–5900 ft.) | 0–1400 m. (0–4600 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; CO; NM; OR
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CA; CT; DC; DE; GA; ID; IL; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MT; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; VT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK; Europe; Asia; n Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in South America (Argentina, Chile)]
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Discussion | Euphorbia crenulata is most common in the central valleys of California and southern Oregon; it occurs disjunctly in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. Previous reports from Arizona are based on misidentified specimens. Euphorbia crenulata is closely related to E. commutata. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Euphorbia helioscopia was collected once in Minnesota in the late 1800s but apparently did not become established there. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 301. | FNA vol. 12, p. 303. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Tithymalus crenulatus | Galarhoeus helioscopius, Tithymalus helioscopius |
Name authority | Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 192. (1859) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 459. (1753) |
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