Euphorbia cuphosperma |
Euphorbia cinerascens |
|
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hairy-fruit spurge |
ashy sandmat |
|
Habit | Herbs, annual, with taproot. | Herbs, perennial, with moderately to strongly thickened rootstock. |
Stems | erect, 13–20 cm, both pilose to villous and densely strigillose; branches ± straight. |
prostrate to decumbent, mat-forming, 5–30 cm, appressed wooly, strigillose, or short-sericeous. |
Leaves | usually opposite, occasionally alternate at distal nodes; petiole 3–15 mm, pilose; blade narrowly to broadly elliptic, or lanceolate to ovate, 30–80 × 10–15 mm, base cuneate to rounded, margins coarsely crenate-dentate, strigose, revolute to nearly flat, apex broadly acute to acuminate, or obtuse, abaxial surface pilose, adaxial surface sparsely strigose-hirsute; venation pinnate, midvein prominent. |
opposite; stipules distinct, subulate, 0.2–0.5 mm, appressed wooly to sericeous; petiole 0.3–0.8 mm, appressed wooly to sericeous; blade ovate to elliptic, 1.5–5.5 × 1.3–4 mm, base asymmetric, obtuse to hemicordate, margins entire often reddish, apex usually obtuse, occasionally acute (young leaves), surfaces sericeous to strigillose or slightly pilose, adaxial surface often glabrous; 3-veined from base but only midvein conspicuous. |
Involucre | campanulate to slightly cylindric, 2.3 × 1.2 mm, glabrous; involucral lobes divided into several linear, smooth lobes; gland 1, yellow-green, stipitate, clavate, 1–1.2 × 0.8–0.9 mm, opening bilabiate and oblong, glabrous; appendages absent. |
turbinate, 0.8–1.3 × 1.2–2 mm, appressed wooly, sericeous, or strigillose; glands 4, purple-black, elliptic to oblong, 0.2–0.3 × 0.4–0.6 mm; appendages absent or reddish pink, forming narrow rim around distal margin of gland, 0–0.1 × 0–0.6 mm, distal margin entire, crenulate, or erose. |
Staminate flowers | 3–5. |
15–20. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary pilose; styles 1.2 mm, 2-fid nearly entire length. |
ovary canescent; styles 0.3–0.5 mm, 2-fid at apex. |
Capsules | broadly ovoid, 2.2–3 × 1.9–2.7 mm, 3-lobed, pilose; columella 2–2.4 mm. |
subglobose to broadly ovoid, 1.3–1.7 × 1.5–1.8 mm, canescent; columella 1–1.3 mm. |
Seeds | gray-brown to pale gray, pyramidally ovoid, angular in cross section, 2.3–2.6 × 2.4–2.6 mm, coarsely tuberculate, tubercles in 2 transverse rows; caruncle 0.2–0.4 mm. |
white to pinkish or light brown, ovoid, 4-angled in cross section, 1–1.4 × 0.6–0.8 mm, smooth to rugulose or rarely with 1–2 inconspicuous transverse ridges. |
Cyathial | arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches usually 3, occasionally reduced to congested cyme, 1–2-branched; pleiochasial bracts 2–4, often whorled, wholly green or paler green at base, similar in shape and size to distal leaves or slightly narrower; dichasial bracts highly reduced. |
|
Cyathia | peduncle 0.5–0.8 mm. |
solitary at distal nodes; peduncle 0.2–0.3 mm. |
2n | = 56. |
= 32. |
Euphorbia cuphosperma |
Euphorbia cinerascens |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting summer–fall. | Flowering and fruiting year-round (mostly spring–fall). |
Habitat | Open montane and canyon forests, pinyon-juniper forests, montane grasslands, stream beds, disturbed habitats. | Desert scrub, oak and juniper woodlands, thorn scrub, shrublands, grasslands, frequently on limestone substrates. |
Elevation | 800–2000 m. (2600–6600 ft.) | 70–1400 m. (200–4600 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; NM; Mexico; Central America (Guatemala)
|
TX; Mexico |
Discussion | In the flora area, Euphorbia cinerascens is found only in southern and western Texas. In Mexico, it is found from Chihuahua east to Tamaulipas, south to Guanajuato. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 319. | FNA vol. 12, p. 264. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Poinsettia | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. dentata var. cuphosperma, Poinsettia cuphosperma | Chamaesyce cinerascens |
Name authority | (Engelmann) Boissier: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 15(2): 73. (1862) | Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 186. (1859) |
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