Euphorbia graminea |
Euphorbia rosescens |
|
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grassleaf spurge |
rosy-pink spurge, scrub spurge |
|
Habit | Herbs, usually annual, rarely perennial, with slender, rarely tuberous, taproot. | Herbs, perennial, with thickened rootstock. |
Stems | erect or ascending, branched, 30–80(–110) cm, strigillose or glabrescent, sharply angled. |
erect or ascending, 15–45 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 indistinct, blade narrowly elliptic, elliptic, narrowly oblong, or obovate, 25–55 × 5–21 mm, thick and fleshy, base attenuate, apex acute or mucronulate; 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. |
obconic to campanulate, 2.4–3.6 × 2.5–3.6 mm, lobes ovate to oblong, 0.7–1 mm, ciliate; glands green to yellow, oblong or trapezoidal, 0.9–1.7 × 1.9–2.5 mm, distal margins crenulate-erose. |
Staminate flowers | 30–40. |
25. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.7–1 mm, 2-fid from 1/2 to nearly entire length. |
mature gynophore not seen, styles connate 1/2 length, 3.3–3.6 mm. |
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. |
not seen. |
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 3.9–6.8 mm. |
Cyathial | arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 3, 7–16 cm, 4–7 times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts ovate to oblong, 17–31 × 13–14 mm, margins entire, apex acute, often also mucronulate; dichasial bracts ovate or lanceolate, 6–18 × 8–12 mm, margins entire, apex acute, often also mucronate; axillary cymose branches 1–2. |
|
Mature | capsules not seen. |
|
Euphorbia graminea |
Euphorbia rosescens |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting year-round. | Flowering and fruiting spring–summer, rarely fall. |
Habitat | Disturbed, weedy, or urban areas. | Xeric oak and pine scrub, mostly on white sands, disturbed habitats. |
Elevation | 0–500 m. (0–1600 ft.) | 20–50 m. (100–200 ft.) |
Distribution |
AR; CA; FL; LA; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America [Introduced in North America; introduced also in West Indies, Asia, Pacific Islands]
|
FL |
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.) |
Euphorbia rosescens is a narrow-endemic, gap-specialist known only from the southern portion of the Lake Wales Ridge in Highlands County. Based on leaf characteristics, it appears to be most similar to E. telephioides. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 246. | FNA vol. 12, p. 316. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Nummulariopsis |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Jacquin: Select. Stirp. Amer. Hist., 151. (1763) | E. L. Bridges & Orzell: Lundellia 5: 71, fig. 4. (2002) |
Web links |