Euphorbia florida |
Euphorbia serrata |
|
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Chiricahua Mountain sandmat |
saw tooth spurge, saw-tooth or tooth or serrate spurge, serrate spurge |
|
Habit | Herbs, annual, with slender taproot. | Herbs, perennial, with thick rootstock. |
Stems | erect, 15–60 cm, usually glabrous, rarely puberulent. |
erect, branched, 10–70 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 absent; blade lanceolate, ovate-lanceolate, linear, or linear-lanceolate, 10–70 × 2–20 mm, base acute or obtuse, margins irregularly serrate, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces glabrous; venation inconspicuous, only 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. |
campanulate, 2–4 × 1.2–3 mm, glabrous; glands 4–5, elliptic, ovate, or suborbiculate, 1.2–1.8 × 1.5–2.7 mm; horns absent or slightly divergent, 0–0.6 mm. |
Staminate flowers | 25–35. |
20–40. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.8–1.4 mm, 2-fid entire length. |
ovary glabrous; styles 1–2 mm, 2-fid. |
Capsules | oblate, 2.2–2.5 × 2.7–3.1 mm, glabrous; columella 1.8–2.1 mm. |
subovoid, 4.5–6 × 4–5 mm, 3-lobed; cocci rounded, smooth occasionally slightly puncticulate, glabrous; columella 4–4.5 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, cylindric, 2.5–3.1 × 1.7–2 mm, smooth or slightly dotted; caruncle subconic, lobed, 1–1.5 × 0.5–1 mm. |
Cyathia | solitary at nodes or in small, cymose clusters at branch tips; peduncle 1.2–8.1 mm. |
peduncle 1–5 mm. |
Cyathial | arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 3–5, each 1–3 times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts ovate-lanceolate, usually shorter and wider than distal leaves; dichasial bracts distinct, ovate or deltate, base obtuse to cordate, margins irregularly dentate, apex acute, or obtuse, mucronate; axillary cymose branches 0–3. |
|
Euphorbia florida |
Euphorbia serrata |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting summer–late fall. | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. |
Habitat | Sandy flats, gravelly washes, rocky hillsides, talus slopes, desert scrub, desert grasslands, mesquite woodlands, rarely oak woodlands. | Waste places, disturbed sites, roadsides, fields, pastures. |
Elevation | 600–1300 m. (2000–4300 ft.) | 0–300 m. (0–1000 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; Mexico (Sinaloa, Sonora)
|
CA; Europe; Atlantic Islands (Macaronesia) [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 serrata, native to the western Mediterranean region of Europe and Macaronesia, is listed as a noxious weed by the state of California. In the flora area, it has been found in coastal counties from Sonoma to Monterey counties; attempts to eradicate it may have been successful. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 267. | FNA vol. 12, p. 309. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Chamaesyce florida | Galarhoeus serratus, Tithymalus serratus |
Name authority | Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 189. (1859) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 459. (1753) |
Web links |