Euphorbia fendleri |
Euphorbia oblongata |
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Fendler's sandmat |
Balkan spurge, egg-leaf spurge, oblong spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, with woody, thickened taproot. | Herbs, perennial, with woody taproot. |
Stems | usually prostrate, decumbent, or ascending, very rarely erect, often densely clustered from top of woody crown, 5–12 cm, glabrous. |
erect, unbranched or densely branching, 80 cm, often densely villous (especially young stems and pleiochasial 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 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 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. |
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 | 25–35. |
15–40. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.3–0.4 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
ovary glabrous; styles 1.5–2 mm, 2-fid. |
Capsules | depressed-globose, 2–2.4 × 2.2–2.5 mm, glabrous; columella 1.7–2.1 mm. |
globose, 3–4.5 × 3–4.5 mm, slightly 3-lobed; cocci rounded, verrucose-tuberculate, glabrous; columella 2.5–3.3 mm. |
Seeds | white, ovoid-pyramidal, prominently 4-angled in cross section, 1.7–2 × 1–1.2 mm, smooth to slightly wrinkled. |
brown, ovoid, 2.4–2.6 × 1.3–2 mm, smooth, caruncle reniform, 0.2–0.3 × 0.8–0.9 mm. |
Cyathia | solitary at distal nodes; peduncle 0.7–1.2 mm. |
peduncle 1–5 mm. |
Cyathial | 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. |
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2n | = 28. |
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Euphorbia fendleri |
Euphorbia oblongata |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. |
Habitat | Mountain slopes, desert scrub, pinyon-juniper woodlands, hills, canyons, grasslands, washes, roadsides, dry crevices in limestone, often in gravel and sand. | Waste areas, disturbed sites, roadsides, fields, pastures. |
Elevation | 500–2600 m. (1600–8500 ft.) | 30–900 m. (100–3000 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; KS; NE; NM; NV; OK; SD; TX; UT; WY; Mexico (Coahuila)
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CA; OR; WA; s Europe [Introduced in North America]
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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 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. 267. | FNA vol. 12, p. 305. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Chamaesyce fendleri | Tithymalus oblongatus |
Name authority | Torrey & A. Gray: in War Department [U.S.], Pacif. Railr. Rep. 2(4): 175. (1857) | Grisebach: Spic. Fl. Rumel. 1: 136. (1843) |
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