Euphorbia fendleri |
Euphorbia dendroides |
|
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Fendler's sandmat |
tree spurge |
|
Habit | Herbs, perennial, with woody, thickened taproot. | Shrubs, dendroid, with large rootstock. |
Stems | usually prostrate, decumbent, or ascending, very rarely erect, often densely clustered from top of woody crown, 5–12 cm, glabrous. |
erect, stout, densely branched, to 200 cm, glabrous, bark usually reddish and glossy toward tip of branches. |
Leaves | usually opposite, rarely whorled; stipules distinct, narrowly linear, 0.5–1 mm, glabrous; petiole 0.5–1 mm, glabrous; blade usually orbiculate to ovate, rarely almost lanceolate, 3–8 × 2.5–7 mm, base slightly asymmetric, slightly cordate to rounded or obtuse, margins entire, apex rounded to obtuse, surfaces glabrous; obscurely 3–5-veined from base, only midvein conspicuous. |
petiole absent; blade linear-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 20–65 × 3–8 mm, base attenuate, margins entire, apex obtuse to acute, sometimes mucronulate, surfaces glabrous; venation pinnate, midvein prominent, base attenuate. |
Involucre | campanulate to turbinate or broadly cupulate, 1.1–1.7 × 1.2–1.8 mm, glabrous; glands 4, yellow-green to reddish, elliptic to oblong, 0.2–0.5 × 0.4–0.9 mm; appendages absent or white, rarely pink, often unequal, lunate to flabellate or sometimes forming crenate margin along gland, (0–)0.1–0.6 × (0–)0.5–1.5 mm, distal margin entire or toothed. |
broadly turbinate to hemispheric, 3–4 × 3.5–3.8 mm, glabrous; glands 4, suborbiculate to subtrapezoidal, 1–1.5 × 1.2–1.8 mm, sometimes irregularly lobed; horns absent. |
Staminate flowers | 25–35. |
20–25. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.3–0.4 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
ovary glabrous; styles 2.4–3 mm, 2-fid. |
Capsules | depressed-globose, 2–2.4 × 2.2–2.5 mm, glabrous; columella 1.7–2.1 mm. |
subglobose, 4–5.5 × 4–6.5 mm, deeply lobed; cocci laterally compressed, smooth, glabrous; columella 3–4 mm. |
Seeds | white, ovoid-pyramidal, prominently 4-angled in cross section, 1.7–2 × 1–1.2 mm, smooth to slightly wrinkled. |
grayish or blackish, ovoid and strongly laterally compressed, 3–3.5 × 1.5–2 mm, smooth; caruncle semirounded and laterally compressed, 1.2–1.4 × 0.8–1.8 mm. |
Cyathia | solitary at distal nodes; peduncle 0.7–1.2 mm. |
peduncle absent. |
Cyathial | arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 4–8, unbranched or 1–2-times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts similar in shape to but usually shorter and wider than distal leaves; dichasial bracts distinct, yellowish, broadly ovate, orbiculate, rhombic, or reniform, base obtuse, margins entire, apex obtuse, sometimes mucronulate; axillary pleiochasial absent. |
|
2n | = 28. |
|
Euphorbia fendleri |
Euphorbia dendroides |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. | Flowering and fruiting fall–spring. |
Habitat | Mountain slopes, desert scrub, pinyon-juniper woodlands, hills, canyons, grasslands, washes, roadsides, dry crevices in limestone, often in gravel and sand. | Coastal plains and basins, hillsides. |
Elevation | 500–2600 m. (1600–8500 ft.) | 0–500 m. (0–1600 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; KS; NE; NM; NV; OK; SD; TX; UT; WY; Mexico (Coahuila)
|
CA; Europe; n Africa [Introduced in North America] |
Discussion | Euphorbia fendleri is similar to E. chaetocalyx and may sometimes be confused with that species. Its prostrate to decumbent or ascending stems and small, ovate to orbiculate leaves distinguish it from E. chaetocalyx. Some authors have used the presence or absence and shape of the involucral gland appendages to help separate E. fendleri from E. chaetocalyx, but those characters appear highly variable and of little taxonomic utility; somewhat intermediate individuals occur in western Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Euphorbia dendroides is native to the Mediterranean region. In the flora area, the species is known from Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 267. | FNA vol. 12, p. 302. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Chamaesyce fendleri | Tithymalus dendroides |
Name authority | Torrey & A. Gray: in War Department [U.S.], Pacif. Railr. Rep. 2(4): 175. (1857) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 462. (1753) |
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