Euphorbia graminea |
|
---|---|
grassleaf spurge |
|
Habit | Herbs, usually annual, rarely perennial, with slender, rarely tuberous, taproot. |
Stems | erect or ascending, branched, 30–80(–110) cm, strigillose or glabrescent, sharply angled. |
Leaves | usually alternate, sometimes some opposite; stipules usually 0.2–0.5 mm, rarely rudimentary; petiole 0.4–5.9 mm, strigillose; blade ovate, elliptic, linear-elliptic, or oblong, 10–83 × 3–39 mm, base attenuate, rounded, or cuneate, margins entire, apex acute or obtuse, surfaces strigillose; venation occasionally obscure on narrow leaves, midvein conspicuous. |
Involucre | campanulate or obconic, 1–1.8 × 0.8–1.7 mm, glabrous or strigillose toward rim; glands (1–)2–4, yellow to greenish, elliptic or oblong, 0.1–0.3 × 0.2–0.4 mm; appendages white to tinged purple, ovate and often hoodlike or forming narrow rim around distal margin of gland, 0.3–1.6 × 0.4–0.9 mm, entire. |
Staminate flowers | 30–40. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.7–1 mm, 2-fid from 1/2 to nearly entire length. |
Capsules | ovoid-oblate, 2.5–3 × 3–3.5 mm, glabrous; columella 1.6–1.9 mm. |
Seeds | gray, brown, or nearly black, ovoid, circular or weakly angled in cross section, 1.5–1.7 × 1.3–1.5 mm, coarsely tuberculate with longitudinal rows of shallow pits; caruncle absent or punctiform, 0.1–0.2 mm. |
Cyathia | in usually terminal, rarely axillary, dichasia, distal dichasial bracts often white; peduncle 0.4–4.5 mm (to 15 mm at first node of inflorescence), glabrous. |
Euphorbia graminea |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting year-round. |
Habitat | Disturbed, weedy, or urban areas. |
Elevation | 0–500 m. (0–1600 ft.) |
Distribution |
AR; CA; FL; LA; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America [Introduced in North America; introduced also in West Indies, Asia, Pacific Islands]
|
Discussion | Euphorbia graminea occurs natively from northern South America to northern Mexico. The species is a variable and taxonomically complex entity whose boundaries are not well defined and are in need of further study. Euphorbia graminea is often weedy and has recently become established in warmer areas of the southern United States, where it will likely become more common in the future. In recent years, a cultivar of E. graminea has found considerable horticultural success and is marketed under the trade name "Diamond Frost." (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 246. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum |
Sibling taxa | |
Name authority | Jacquin: Select. Stirp. Amer. Hist., 151. (1763) |
Web links |