Euphorbia florida |
Euphorbia alta |
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Chiricahua Mountain sandmat |
giant spurge, roughpod spurge, tall spurge, warty spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, annual, with slender taproot. | Herbs, annual or biennial, with taproot. |
Stems | erect, 15–60 cm, usually glabrous, rarely puberulent. |
erect, branched, 20–60 cm, glabrous. |
Leaves | opposite; stipules distinct, divided into 3–4 subulate-filiform divisions, 0.4–1.6 mm, usually glabrous, rarely puberulent; petiole 0.5–2.5 mm, glabrous; blade usually linear, rarely to narrowly elliptic, 10–40(–60) × 0.5–2.5 mm, base symmetric, attenuate, margins serrulate, often revolute, apex acute, surfaces usually glabrous, rarely puberulent; obscurely pinnately veined. |
petiole 0–1 mm; blade oblong-spatulate, 20–50 × 7–18 mm, base broadly attenuate, margins serrulate, apex rounded to obtuse, surfaces glabrous, ± glaucous; venation pinnate, midvein prominent. |
Involucre | obconic, 1.7–2.4 × 1.5–2.1 mm, glabrous; glands 4, greenish yellow to slightly pink, circular to oblong, 0.4–0.5 × 0.4–0.6 mm; appendages white to pink, obovoid, circular, flabellate, or oblong, 0.8–2.9 × 1–2.8 mm, distal margin entire. |
narrowly campanulate, 0.8–1.1 × 1.1–1.3 mm, glabrous; glands 4, elliptic, 0.3–0.5 × 0.5–0.7 mm; horns absent. |
Staminate flowers | 25–35. |
5–10. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.8–1.4 mm, 2-fid entire length. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.5–0.9 mm, 2-fid. |
Capsules | oblate, 2.2–2.5 × 2.7–3.1 mm, glabrous; columella 1.8–2.1 mm. |
depressed-globose, 2–3 × 2.5–3.5 mm, 3-lobed; cocci rounded, papillate, papillae 0.2–0.5 mm, glabrous; columella 1.5–1.9 mm. |
Seeds | light gray to light brown, ovoid, slightly 4-angled in cross section, 1.6–2 × 1.3–1.7 mm, with 2 or 3 well-developed transverse ridges. |
purple-black, ovoid, 1.6–2 × 1.3–1.7 mm, reticulate and areolate; caruncle reniform, flat, 0.5 × 0.7 mm. |
Cyathia | solitary at nodes or in small, cymose clusters at branch tips; peduncle 1.2–8.1 mm. |
peduncle 0.5–1 mm. |
Cyathial | arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 3, 2–3 times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts elliptic-oblanceolate to oblong, similar in size to distal leaves; dichasial bracts distinct, broadly ovate to orbiculate/reniform, base obtuse, margins serrulate, apex obtuse to rounded and often mucronulate; axillary cymose branches 6–20(–25). |
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Euphorbia florida |
Euphorbia alta |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting summer–late fall. | Flowering and fruiting summer. |
Habitat | Sandy flats, gravelly washes, rocky hillsides, talus slopes, desert scrub, desert grasslands, mesquite woodlands, rarely oak woodlands. | Montane pine-oak and mixed conifer forests, disturbed roadsides, logged areas. |
Elevation | 600–1300 m. (2000–4300 ft.) | 1500–3000 m. (4900–9800 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; Mexico (Sinaloa, Sonora)
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AZ; NM; Mexico
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Discussion | Euphorbia florida is known in the flora area from Coconino County south to the Mexican border (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Euphorbia alta is a montane species from southern Arizona, New Mexico, and northern and central Mexico that is very similar to and sometimes difficult to distinguish from E. spathulata. Euphorbia alta tends to be a robust biennial, whereas E. spathulata is strictly annual. The most consistent characteristic to separate these two species is that the ovaries and capsules of E. alta are distinctly papillate, with the papillae rising sharply above the surface, whereas the ovaries and capsules of E. spathulata are merely verrucose, with the protuberances lower and rounded. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 267. | FNA vol. 12, p. 298. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Chamaesyce florida | Tithymalus altus |
Name authority | Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 189. (1859) | Norton: N. Amer. Euphorbia, 24, plate 24. (1899) |
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