Euphorbia helioscopia |
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euphorbe réveille-matin, mad woman's milk, summer spurge, sun spurge, wart spurge, wartweed |
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Habit | Herbs, annual, with taproot. |
Stems | erect, unbranched or branched, 5–45 cm, usually glabrous or sparsely pilose. |
Leaves | petiole absent or to 0.5 mm; blade obovate-spatulate, 4–40 × 2–25 mm, base cuneate, attenuate, or auriculate, margins serrulate, apex rounded, surfaces glabrous; venation pinnate, midvein prominent. |
Involucre | cupulate, 1.5–2 × 0.7–1.1 mm, glabrous; glands 4, elliptic, 0.2–0.5 × 0.5–1 mm; horns absent. |
Staminate flowers | 10–15. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.7–1 mm, 2-fid. |
Capsules | depressed-globose, 2.5–4 × 3.2–4.2 mm, clearly 3-lobed; cocci rounded, smooth, glabrous; columella 0.9–1.1 mm. |
Seeds | dark brown to blackish, subovoid, 1.6–2.2 × 1.5–1.9 mm, reticulate; caruncle elliptic, 0.9–1.1 × 0.4–0.5 mm. |
Cyathial | arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches (3–)5, each 1–2 times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts obovate, wider than distal leaves; dichasial bracts distinct, obovate or rhombic, ± oblique, base rounded, truncate, or attenuate, margins serrulate, apex rounded; axillary cymose branches 0. |
Cyathia | peduncle 0.2–1 mm. |
Euphorbia helioscopia |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. |
Habitat | Roadsides, waste places. |
Elevation | 0–1400 m. (0–4600 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; CT; DC; DE; GA; ID; IL; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MT; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; VT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK; Europe; Asia; n Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in South America (Argentina, Chile)]
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Discussion | Euphorbia helioscopia was collected once in Minnesota in the late 1800s but apparently did not become established there. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 303. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | Galarhoeus helioscopius, Tithymalus helioscopius |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 459. (1753) |
Web links |
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