Euphorbia cuphosperma |
Euphorbia lasiocarpa |
|
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hairy-fruit spurge |
roadside sandmat |
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Habit | Herbs, annual, with taproot. | Herbs, annual or perennial, often robust, with slender to moderately thickened taproot. |
Stems | erect, 13–20 cm, both pilose to villous and densely strigillose; branches ± straight. |
erect to ascending, 30–100 cm, pilose to tomentose. |
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 when young, connate into deltate scale when older, erose to laciniate, with dark glands at margin or base, 0.5–1.3 mm, pilose; petiole 0.5–2 mm, glabrescent or pilose; blade ovate or oblong, sometimes slightly falcate, 8–46 × 3–21 mm, base asymmetric, obtuse to hemicordate, margins serrulate, apex obtuse or acute, surfaces often with red spot in center, pilose to sericeous; palmately 3–5(–7)-veined from base. |
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. |
obconic, 0.9–1.3 × 0.8–1.2 mm, pilose to sericeous; glands 4, yellow or pink, circular or oblong, 0.1–0.3 mm diam.; appendages white or pink, oblong, flabellate, or suborbiculate, 0.1–0.6 × 0.2–1 mm, entire or crenate. |
Staminate flowers | 3–5. |
15–25. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary pilose; styles 1.2 mm, 2-fid nearly entire length. |
ovary densely pilose to sericeous with yellowish hairs; styles 0.6–0.9 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length, filiform. |
Capsules | broadly ovoid, 2.2–3 × 1.9–2.7 mm, 3-lobed, pilose; columella 2–2.4 mm. |
subglobose to broadly ovoid, 1.7–2 mm diam., pilose to sericeous with yellowish hairs; columella 1.5–1.7 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. |
dark reddish brown to almost black, plumply ovoid, 4-angled in cross section, 1.2–1.3 × 0.7–0.8 mm, with 2 inconspicuous rows of 3–5 shallow depressions separated by low 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. |
in dense, usually terminal, capitate glomerules, with reduced, bractlike leaves subtending cyathia; peduncle 0.8–2.3 mm. |
2n | = 56. |
|
Euphorbia cuphosperma |
Euphorbia lasiocarpa |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting summer–fall. | Flowering and fruiting year-round. |
Habitat | Open montane and canyon forests, pinyon-juniper forests, montane grasslands, stream beds, disturbed habitats. | Open disturbed areas, mostly along roadsides and railroad tracks. |
Elevation | 800–2000 m. (2600–6600 ft.) | 0–10 m. (0–0 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; NM; Mexico; Central America (Guatemala)
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FL; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America] |
Discussion | Euphorbia lasiocarpa is similar to E. hypericifolia but is much more hairy on its stems and leaves. Euphorbia lasiocarpa is widespread throughout tropical America, but its precise native range in the New World is not clear. In the flora area, E. lasiocarpa is found in southern Florida, where it is likely introduced. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 319. | FNA vol. 12, p. 275. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Poinsettia | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. dentata var. cuphosperma, Poinsettia cuphosperma | Chamaesyce lasiocarpa |
Name authority | (Engelmann) Boissier: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 15(2): 73. (1862) | Klotzsch: Nov. Actorum Acad. Caes. Leop.-Carol. Nat. Cur. 19(suppl. 1): 414. (1843) |
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