Euphorbia cuphosperma |
Euphorbia parishii |
|
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hairy-fruit spurge |
Parish's sandmat |
|
Habit | Herbs, annual, with taproot. | Herbs or subshrubs, perennial, with thickened and often woody rootstock. |
Stems | erect, 13–20 cm, both pilose to villous and densely strigillose; branches ± straight. |
prostrate, sometimes forming dense mounds, 10–50 cm, glabrous. |
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-filiform, 0.3–0.9 mm, pilose; petiole 0.3–1.2 mm, glabrous; blade usually ovate, rarely oblong, 2–7 × 1–5 mm, base usually asymmetric, rounded to hemicordate, margins entire, apex usually obtuse, rarely acute, surfaces glabrous; 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. |
obconic to campanulate, 1–1.4 × 0.9–1.3 mm, glabrous except for pilose lobes; glands 4, pink to maroon, circular, 0.3–0.4 × 0.3–0.4 mm; appendages absent. |
Staminate flowers | 3–5. |
40–50. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary pilose; styles 1.2 mm, 2-fid nearly entire length. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.3–0.6 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
Capsules | broadly ovoid, 2.2–3 × 1.9–2.7 mm, 3-lobed, pilose; columella 2–2.4 mm. |
ovoid to oblate-ovoid, 1.6–1.7 × 1.6–1.9 mm, glabrous; columella 1.2–1.5 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. |
whitish to light brown, ovoid, 4-angled in cross section, 1.2–1.4 × 0.6–0.8 mm, rugose or with indistinct, irregular, low 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 0.1–0.6(–2.2) mm. |
2n | = 56. |
|
Euphorbia cuphosperma |
Euphorbia parishii |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting summer–fall. | Flowering and fruiting fall–summer. |
Habitat | Open montane and canyon forests, pinyon-juniper forests, montane grasslands, stream beds, disturbed habitats. | Desert scrub, often with creosote bush, disturbed roadsides, rocky soils. |
Elevation | 800–2000 m. (2600–6600 ft.) | -90–600 m. (-300–2000 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; NM; Mexico; Central America (Guatemala)
|
CA; NV |
Discussion | Euphorbia parishii is common in the Death Valley region of southern California, where it is often encountered well below sea level. The species is frequently confused with E. micromera and E. polycarpa but differs from the former in being a more robust plant with larger cyathia and from the latter in lacking involucral gland appendages. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 319. | FNA vol. 12, p. 280. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Poinsettia | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. dentata var. cuphosperma, Poinsettia cuphosperma | Chamaesyce parishii, E. polycarpa var. parishii |
Name authority | (Engelmann) Boissier: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 15(2): 73. (1862) | Greene: Bull. Calif. Acad. Sci. 2: 56. (1886) |
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