Euphorbia graminea |
Euphorbia floridana |
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grassleaf spurge |
greater Florida spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, usually annual, rarely perennial, with slender, rarely tuberous, taproot. | Herbs, perennial, with slender to moderately thickened rootstock. |
Stems | erect or ascending, branched, 30–80(–110) cm, strigillose or glabrescent, sharply angled. |
erect, 20–65 cm. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
Staminate flowers | 30–40. |
20. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.7–1 mm, 2-fid from 1/2 to nearly entire length. |
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. |
Capsules | ovoid-oblate, 2.5–3 × 3–3.5 mm, glabrous; columella 1.6–1.9 mm. |
oblate-ovoid, 4.6–5.5 × 8.9–9 mm, strongly 3-lobed; columella 3.4–4.2 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. |
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. |
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. |
peduncle (except for that of 1st cyathium at base of pleiochasia) 2–5 mm (not exceeding dichasial bracts). |
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). |
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Euphorbia graminea |
Euphorbia floridana |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting year-round. | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. |
Habitat | Disturbed, weedy, or urban areas. | Xeric pine-oak sandhills, pine scrub, sandy soils. |
Elevation | 0–500 m. (0–1600 ft.) | 20–80 m. (100–300 ft.) |
Distribution |
AR; CA; FL; LA; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America [Introduced in North America; introduced also in West Indies, Asia, Pacific Islands]
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AL; FL; GA
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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.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 246. | FNA vol. 12, p. 314. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Nummulariopsis |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Galarhoeus floridanus | |
Name authority | Jacquin: Select. Stirp. Amer. Hist., 151. (1763) | Chapman: Fl. South. U.S., 401. (1860) |
Web links |