Euphorbia floridana |
Euphorbia melanadenia |
|
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greater Florida spurge |
red-gland spurge, squaw sandmat |
|
Habit | Herbs, perennial, with slender to moderately thickened rootstock. | Herbs, perennial, with moderately to strongly thickened rootstock. |
Stems | erect, 20–65 cm. |
ascending to erect, 5–20 cm, sericeous to appressed-villous. |
Leaves | petiole absent; blade linear to linear-elliptic or linear-lanceolate, 30–105 × 2–4(–7) mm, chartaceous, base attenuate, rounded, or nearly truncate, apex acute; only midvein evident. |
opposite; stipules distinct (lower side) and connate (upper side), linear, 0.5–1 mm, densely pilose; petiole 0.8–1.5 mm, tomentose; blade ovate, 1.2–5 × 0.8–2.9 mm, base asymmetric, hemicordate, margins entire, apex rounded to acute, surfaces tomentose; venation inconspicuous. |
Involucre | campanulate or obconic, 1.6–3.3 × 1.8–3.1 mm, lobes ovate, 0.5–0.7 mm, ciliate, exceeded by glands; glands yellow-green, oblong to trapezoidal, 0.5–0.8 × 0.8–1.2 mm, distal margins deeply erose. |
campanulate, 0.6–1.1 × 0.7–1 mm, tomentose; glands 4, deep red to purple, elliptic, 0.3–0.4 × 0.4–0.7 mm; appendages white or becoming pink with age, oblong to flabellate, 0.4–0.7(–1) × 0.7–1.2 mm, distal margin entire or erose. |
Staminate flowers | 20. |
45–80. |
Pistillate flowers | gynophore exserted 2.9–5.3 mm, calyxlike lobes triangular, 0.3–0.7 mm; styles connate 1/3–1/4 length, 1.1–1.7 mm. |
ovary tomentose, styles 0.5–0.8 mm, 2-fid nearly entire length. |
Capsules | oblate-ovoid, 4.6–5.5 × 8.9–9 mm, strongly 3-lobed; columella 3.4–4.2 mm. |
ovoid, 1.4–1.8 × 1.4–1.7 mm, tomentose; columella 1.2–1.5 mm. |
Seeds | brown to blackish, depressed-globose, circular in cross section, 2.8–3 × 3.2–3.6 mm, smooth, base flattened, with punctiform depressions, apex flattened. |
gray to tan, oblong, 4-angled in cross section, 1–1.2 × 0.4–0.6 mm, smooth to wrinkled or alveolate. |
Cyathial | arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 3–5, 3–16 cm, 3–5(–7) times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts linear-lanceolate or narrowly ovate, 19–55 × 4–12 mm, margins entire, apex acute or acuminate; dichasial bracts usually ovate, lanceolate, or oblong, rarely deltate, 8–21 × 4–14 mm, margins entire, apex acute, acuminate, or rounded with mucronate tip; axillary cymose branches 1–3(–6). |
|
Cyathia | peduncle (except for that of 1st cyathium at base of pleiochasia) 2–5 mm (not exceeding dichasial bracts). |
solitary at distal nodes; peduncle (0.6–)1.4–1.9 mm. |
Euphorbia floridana |
Euphorbia melanadenia |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. | Flowering and fruiting year-round. |
Habitat | Xeric pine-oak sandhills, pine scrub, sandy soils. | Rocky slopes, river washes, dry to wet soils. |
Elevation | 20–80 m. (100–300 ft.) | 400–1400 m. (1300–4600 ft.) |
Distribution |
AL; FL; GA
|
AZ; CA; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
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Discussion | Euphorbia melanadenia is similar in appearance to E. cinerascens, but E. melanadenia has conspicuous involucral gland appendages whereas E. cinerascens has inconspicuous appendages or lacks them entirely. Euphorbia melanadenia occurs in Arizona and southern California, whereas E. cinerascens is found only in southern and western Texas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 314. | FNA vol. 12, p. 276. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Nummulariopsis | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Galarhoeus floridanus | Chamaesyce melanadenia |
Name authority | Chapman: Fl. South. U.S., 401. (1860) | Torrey: in War Department [U.S.], Pacif. Railr. Rep. 4(5): 135. (1857) |
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