Euphorbia florida |
Euphorbia wrightii |
|
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Chiricahua Mountain sandmat |
Wright's spurge |
|
Habit | Herbs, annual, with slender taproot. | Herbs, perennial with cylindric rootstock or elongated tubers. |
Stems | erect, 15–60 cm, usually glabrous, rarely puberulent. |
erect, branched, densely clumped, previous year’s dead stems often persistent, 20–50 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, persisting, spreading or ascending; stipules 0.1–0.3 mm; petiole absent; blade linear to linear-filiform, (17–)20–40 × 1–2.5 mm, base cuneate, slightly sheathing stem, margins entire, apex broadly acute to rounded, abaxial surface glabrous or sparsely villous, adaxial surface glabrous; venation obscure, only midvein conspicuous on 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, 1.5–2 × 1.8–2.5 mm, pilose; glands 5, green, broadly elliptic, 0.7–0.8 × 1 mm; appendages white to pink, orbiculate, 0.5–1 × 1.3–1.8 mm, coarsely erose. |
Staminate flowers | 25–35. |
20–25. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.8–1.4 mm, 2-fid entire length. |
ovary strigose to tomentose; styles 1 mm, 2-fid at apex. |
Capsules | oblate, 2.2–2.5 × 2.7–3.1 mm, glabrous; columella 1.8–2.1 mm. |
depressed-globose, 1 locule usually aborting, 2.5(–3) × 2.7–3.3(–5) mm, sparsely tomentose; columella 2.6–3 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. |
gray-green to gray-brown, globose-ovoid, 2.2–2.9 × 1.8–2 mm, shallowly and obscurely pitted; caruncle absent. |
Cyathia | solitary at nodes or in small, cymose clusters at branch tips; peduncle 1.2–8.1 mm. |
usually in terminal dichasia, rarely pleiochasia; peduncle (3–)5–15 mm, all peduncles and cyathia persistent on plant, glabrous. |
Euphorbia florida |
Euphorbia wrightii |
|
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. | Open grasslands and uplands, often on limestone outcrops. |
Elevation | 600–1300 m. (2000–4300 ft.) | 500–1000 m. (1600–3300 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; Mexico (Sinaloa, Sonora)
|
TX; Mexico (Coahuila) |
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.) |
Within the flora area, Euphorbia wrightii is endemic to the western Edwards Plateau and adjacent rolling plains in western Texas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 267. | FNA vol. 12, p. 251. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Chamaesyce florida | |
Name authority | Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 189. (1859) | Torrey & A. Gray: in War Department [U.S.], Pacif. Railr. Rep. 2(4): 174. (1857) |
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