Euphorbia crenulata |
Euphorbia oblongata |
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Chinese caps, western wood spurge |
Balkan spurge, egg-leaf spurge, oblong spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, usually biennial, occasionally annual, with taproot. | Herbs, perennial, with woody taproot. |
Stems | erect, sometimes decumbent at base, unbranched or branched, 12–40 cm, glabrous. |
erect, unbranched or densely branching, 80 cm, often densely villous (especially young stems and pleiochasial branches). |
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; blade oblong to narrowly obovate or lanceolate, 15–70 × 6–25 mm, base rounded or truncate, margins finely serrulate, apex obtuse, mucronulate, surfaces glabrous; venation inconspicuously 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 to slightly turbinate, 1.5–2.5 × 1.3–1.5 mm, glabrous; glands 2–3, elliptic, 0.6–0.8 × 0.8–1.2 mm; horns absent. |
Staminate flowers | 11–18. |
15–40. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.9–1.4 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary glabrous; styles 1.5–2 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. |
globose, 3–4.5 × 3–4.5 mm, slightly 3-lobed; cocci rounded, verrucose-tuberculate, glabrous; columella 2.5–3.3 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. |
brown, ovoid, 2.4–2.6 × 1.3–2 mm, smooth, caruncle reniform, 0.2–0.3 × 0.8–0.9 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 2–3 times 2–4-branched; pleiochasial bracts ovate, similar in size to distal leaves; dichasial bracts distinct, ovate to suborbiculate, base truncate or rounded, margins entire or finely denticulate, apex obtuse, sometimes mucronulate; axillary cymose branches 0–4. |
Cyathia | peduncle 0–0.5 mm. |
peduncle 1–5 mm. |
Euphorbia crenulata |
Euphorbia oblongata |
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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. | Waste areas, disturbed sites, roadsides, fields, pastures. |
Elevation | 30–1800 m. (100–5900 ft.) | 30–900 m. (100–3000 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; CO; NM; OR
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CA; OR; WA; s Europe [Introduced in North America]
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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 oblongata is listed as a noxious weed by the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 301. | FNA vol. 12, p. 305. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Tithymalus crenulatus | Tithymalus oblongatus |
Name authority | Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 192. (1859) | Grisebach: Spic. Fl. Rumel. 1: 136. (1843) |
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