Euphorbia florida |
Euphorbia bifurcata |
|
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Chiricahua Mountain sandmat |
fork spurge |
|
Habit | Herbs, annual, with slender taproot. | Herbs, annual, with slender, fibrous taproot. |
Stems | erect, 15–60 cm, usually glabrous, rarely puberulent. |
erect, 20–70 cm, glabrous or with few scattered spreading hairs; branches arcuate, branching appearing dichotomous. |
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. |
usually alternate, occasionally opposite at proximalmost node; petiole 15–49 mm, glabrous; blade usually ovate, rarely oblong or elliptic, 13–54 × 7–38 mm, base usually rounded to broadly cuneate, rarely truncate, margins finely serrulate, apex obtuse, surfaces glabrous or with few scattered hairs; 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. |
tubular or obconic, 1–1.7 × 0.7–1.4 mm, glabrous except for few hairs on lobes; involucral lobes divided into several linear, smooth lobes; glands 1(–3), greenish, sessile and broadly attached, 0.3–0.4 × 0.4–0.8 mm, opening oblong to subcircular, glabrous; appendages petaloid, white, elliptic, oblong, transversely oblong, or forming thin, lunate rim on gland margin, not incurved and covering glands, 0.3–0.9 × 0.6–1.3 mm, entire, undulate or slightly lobed, glabrous. |
Staminate flowers | 25–35. |
20–30. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.8–1.4 mm, 2-fid entire length. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.6–1 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
Capsules | oblate, 2.2–2.5 × 2.7–3.1 mm, glabrous; columella 1.8–2.1 mm. |
oblate, 2.8–3.1 × 3.6–4.5 mm, glabrous; columella 1.9–2.4 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. |
brown to blackish, ovoid, rounded in cross section, 1.9–2.4 × 1.5–1.8 mm, irregularly and coarsely tuberculate; caruncle absent or rudimentary. |
Cyathia | solitary at nodes or in small, cymose clusters at branch tips; peduncle 1.2–8.1 mm. |
peduncle 0.9–3.5(–6.2) mm. |
Cyathial | arrangement: terminal dichasial branches 2, few-branched (weakly defined); pleiochasial bracts 2–3, opposite or whorled, wholly green, similar in shape and size to distal leaves; dichasial bracts smaller than distal leaves, often white at base. |
|
Euphorbia florida |
Euphorbia bifurcata |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting summer–late fall. | Flowering and fruiting summer–fall. |
Habitat | Sandy flats, gravelly washes, rocky hillsides, talus slopes, desert scrub, desert grasslands, mesquite woodlands, rarely oak woodlands. | Riparian areas with cottonwoods and willows, pinyon pine woodlands, pine-oak forests, Douglas fir forests with pines. |
Elevation | 600–1300 m. (2000–4300 ft.) | 1900–2300 m. (6200–7500 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; Mexico (Sinaloa, Sonora)
|
NM; TX; Mexico; Central America (Guatemala) |
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 bifurcata is found in the mountains of southern New Mexico (Doña Ana, Grant, Lincoln, Otero, and Sierra counties) and trans-Pecos Texas (Brewster, Jeff Davis, and Presidio counties). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 267. | FNA vol. 12, p. 319. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Poinsettia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Chamaesyce florida | |
Name authority | Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 189. (1859) | Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 190. (1859) |
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