Euphorbia floridana |
Euphorbia parishii |
|
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greater Florida spurge |
Parish's sandmat |
|
Habit | Herbs, perennial, with slender to moderately thickened rootstock. | Herbs or subshrubs, perennial, with thickened and often woody rootstock. |
Stems | erect, 20–65 cm. |
prostrate, sometimes forming dense mounds, 10–50 cm, glabrous. |
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, subulate-filiform, 0.3–0.9 mm, pilose; petiole 0.3–1.2 mm, glabrous; blade usually ovate, rarely oblong, 2–7 × 1–5 mm, base usually asymmetric, rounded to hemicordate, margins entire, apex usually obtuse, rarely acute, surfaces glabrous; only midvein conspicuous. |
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. |
obconic to campanulate, 1–1.4 × 0.9–1.3 mm, glabrous except for pilose lobes; glands 4, pink to maroon, circular, 0.3–0.4 × 0.3–0.4 mm; appendages absent. |
Staminate flowers | 20. |
40–50. |
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 glabrous; styles 0.3–0.6 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
Capsules | oblate-ovoid, 4.6–5.5 × 8.9–9 mm, strongly 3-lobed; columella 3.4–4.2 mm. |
ovoid to oblate-ovoid, 1.6–1.7 × 1.6–1.9 mm, glabrous; 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. |
whitish to light brown, ovoid, 4-angled in cross section, 1.2–1.4 × 0.6–0.8 mm, rugose or with indistinct, irregular, low transverse ridges. |
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 0.1–0.6(–2.2) mm. |
Euphorbia floridana |
Euphorbia parishii |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. | Flowering and fruiting fall–summer. |
Habitat | Xeric pine-oak sandhills, pine scrub, sandy soils. | Desert scrub, often with creosote bush, disturbed roadsides, rocky soils. |
Elevation | 20–80 m. (100–300 ft.) | -90–600 m. (-300–2000 ft.) |
Distribution |
AL; FL; GA
|
CA; NV |
Discussion | Euphorbia parishii is common in the Death Valley region of southern California, where it is often encountered well below sea level. The species is frequently confused with E. micromera and E. polycarpa but differs from the former in being a more robust plant with larger cyathia and from the latter in lacking involucral gland appendages. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 314. | FNA vol. 12, p. 280. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Nummulariopsis | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Galarhoeus floridanus | Chamaesyce parishii, E. polycarpa var. parishii |
Name authority | Chapman: Fl. South. U.S., 401. (1860) | Greene: Bull. Calif. Acad. Sci. 2: 56. (1886) |
Web links |