Euphorbia florida |
Euphorbia polyphylla |
|
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Chiricahua Mountain sandmat |
lesser Florida spurge |
|
Habit | Herbs, annual, with slender taproot. | Herbs, perennial, with spreading rootstock. |
Stems | erect, 15–60 cm, usually glabrous, rarely puberulent. |
erect or ascending, branched, solitary, few, or occasionally densely clumped, previous year's dead stems not persistent, 18–33 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. |
alternate; stipules to 0.1 mm; petiole minute or absent; blade linear to filiform, 10–20 × 0.8–1.5(–4) mm, base cuneate, margins entire, often involute, apex rounded, surfaces glabrous; venation usually obscure, midvein visible at base of wider leaves. |
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. |
campanulate, 1.2–2 × 1.3–1.8 mm, glabrous or strigose on distal extreme; glands 5, red, elliptic, 0.5 × 1 mm; appendages white, orbiculate, 0.5–0.8 × 1.3–1.5 mm, erose. |
Staminate flowers | 25–35. |
20–25. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.8–1.4 mm, 2-fid entire length. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.6–1 mm, 2-fid at apex. |
Capsules | oblate, 2.2–2.5 × 2.7–3.1 mm, glabrous; columella 1.8–2.1 mm. |
globose, 2.3–2.8 × 4.3–5.1 mm, glabrous; columella 2.5–3.2 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. |
ashy gray, ovoid, 2.9 × 2 mm, with obscure shallow depressions; caruncle absent. |
Cyathia | solitary at nodes or in small, cymose clusters at branch tips; peduncle 1.2–8.1 mm. |
in terminal dichasia or pleiochasia; peduncle 2–6 mm (to 20 mm for central cyathium), glabrous. |
Euphorbia florida |
Euphorbia polyphylla |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting summer–late fall. | Flowering and fruiting late spring–late fall. |
Habitat | Sandy flats, gravelly washes, rocky hillsides, talus slopes, desert scrub, desert grasslands, mesquite woodlands, rarely oak woodlands. | Open sand and pine savannas. |
Elevation | 600–1300 m. (2000–4300 ft.) | 0–10 m. (0–0 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; Mexico (Sinaloa, Sonora)
|
FL
|
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 polyphylla is endemic to sandy habitats in the southern half of peninsular Florida. The species has been reported from coastal Louisiana, but whether those plants represent native occurrences or plantings is unclear (R. D. Thomas and C. M. Allen 1993–1998, vol. 2). The Florida populations are here recognized as the only native occurrences. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 267. | FNA vol. 12, p. 250. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Chamaesyce florida | Tithymalopsis polyphylla |
Name authority | Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 189. (1859) | Engelmann ex Chapman: Fl. South. U.S. ed. 2, repr. 2, 694. (1892) |
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