Euphorbia helioscopia |
Euphorbia mesembrianthemifolia |
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euphorbe réveille-matin, mad woman's milk, summer spurge, sun spurge, wart spurge, wartweed |
coastal beach sandmat |
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Habit | Herbs, annual, with taproot. | Subshrubs or shrubs, perennial, with thickened and often woody rootstock. |
Stems | erect, unbranched or branched, 5–45 cm, usually glabrous or sparsely pilose. |
erect to ascending, or nearly decumbent in shifting sand, 25–60 cm, glabrous. |
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. |
opposite; stipules connate, forming conspicuous, ligulate or deltate scale, short cleft or fringed, 1–1.8 mm, glabrous; petiole 0.5–1 mm, glabrous; blade ovate to elliptic often folded along midrib, 5–12 × 3–8 mm, ± fleshy, base slightly asymmetric, truncate to cordate, partially obscuring stem, margins entire, apex usually obtuse, rarely acute, surfaces yellowish to dark green, glabrous glaucous; obscurely 3–5-veined at base, pinnate distally, only midvein conspicuous. |
Involucre | cupulate, 1.5–2 × 0.7–1.1 mm, glabrous; glands 4, elliptic, 0.2–0.5 × 0.5–1 mm; horns absent. |
campanulate, 1–1.6 × 0.7–1.2 mm, glabrous; glands 4, brown, usually elliptic, occasionally almost round, 0.2–0.4 × 0.5–0.7 mm, fleshy; appendages white, oblong, rarely rudimentary, 0.2–0.4 × 0.5–0.9 mm, distal margin entire or undulate. |
Staminate flowers | 10–15. |
12–20. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.7–1 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.3–0.4 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
Capsules | depressed-globose, 2.5–4 × 3.2–4.2 mm, clearly 3-lobed; cocci rounded, smooth, glabrous; columella 0.9–1.1 mm. |
subglobose subtended by calyxlike structure, 1.5–2 × 2.2–2.8 mm, glabrous; columella 1–1.5 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. |
ashen, broadly ovoid, angled in cross section, faces plump, convex, 1.2–1.3 × 0.9–1.2 mm, obscurely pitted. |
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. |
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Cyathia | peduncle 0.2–1 mm. |
solitary at distal nodes; peduncle 0.5–1 mm. |
Euphorbia helioscopia |
Euphorbia mesembrianthemifolia |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. | Flowering and fruiting year-round. |
Habitat | Roadsides, waste places. | Sandy and rocky shores, associated beach scrub. |
Elevation | 0–1400 m. (0–4600 ft.) | 0–10 m. (0–0 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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FL; Mexico; West Indies; Bermuda; South America (Colombia, Venezuela) |
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.) |
Euphorbia mesembrianthemifolia is found in the flora area along the sandy and rocky shores of southern Florida from Pinellas and Volusia counties southward. It is one of the few members of subg. Chamaesyce in the flora area that is a shrub or subshrub. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 303. | FNA vol. 12, p. 277. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Galarhoeus helioscopius, Tithymalus helioscopius | Chamaesyce buxifolia, C. mesembrianthemifolia, E. buxifolia |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 459. (1753) | Jacquin: Enum. Syst. Pl., 22. (1760) |
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