Euphorbia florida |
Euphorbia dendroides |
|
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Chiricahua Mountain sandmat |
tree spurge |
|
Habit | Herbs, annual, with slender taproot. | Shrubs, dendroid, with large rootstock. |
Stems | erect, 15–60 cm, usually glabrous, rarely puberulent. |
erect, stout, densely branched, to 200 cm, glabrous, bark usually reddish and glossy toward tip of branches. |
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 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 | 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. |
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 0.8–1.4 mm, 2-fid entire length. |
ovary glabrous; styles 2.4–3 mm, 2-fid. |
Capsules | oblate, 2.2–2.5 × 2.7–3.1 mm, glabrous; columella 1.8–2.1 mm. |
subglobose, 4–5.5 × 4–6.5 mm, deeply lobed; cocci laterally compressed, smooth, glabrous; columella 3–4 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. |
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 nodes or in small, cymose clusters at branch tips; peduncle 1.2–8.1 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. |
|
Euphorbia florida |
Euphorbia dendroides |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting summer–late fall. | Flowering and fruiting fall–spring. |
Habitat | Sandy flats, gravelly washes, rocky hillsides, talus slopes, desert scrub, desert grasslands, mesquite woodlands, rarely oak woodlands. | Coastal plains and basins, hillsides. |
Elevation | 600–1300 m. (2000–4300 ft.) | 0–500 m. (0–1600 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; Mexico (Sinaloa, Sonora)
|
CA; Europe; n Africa [Introduced in North America] |
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 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 florida | Tithymalus dendroides |
Name authority | Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 189. (1859) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 462. (1753) |
Web links |