Euphorbia helioscopia |
Euphorbia myrsinites |
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euphorbe réveille-matin, mad woman's milk, summer spurge, sun spurge, wart spurge, wartweed |
broad leaf glaucous spurge, donkey tail, myrtle or creeping or blue spurge, myrtle spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, annual, with taproot. | Herbs, usually perennial, occasionally biennial, with taproot. |
Stems | erect, unbranched or branched, 5–45 cm, usually glabrous or sparsely pilose. |
erect or semiprostrate, unbranched or branched, 15–40 cm, succulent, 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. |
petiole 0–2 mm; blade obovate, obovate-oblong, lanceolate, orbiculate, or suborbiculate, 2–30 × 3–17 mm, fleshy, base truncate or attenuate, margins entire or finely denticulate, apex acute to obtuse, cuspidate or strongly mucronate, surfaces glabrous; venation and midvein inconspicuous. |
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, 2.4–2.6 × 2.3–2.5 mm, glabrous; glands 4, trapezoidal, 1–1.5 × 1.5–2.5 mm; horns divergent, thick, tips rounded, dilated, 0.5–0.9 mm. |
Staminate flowers | 10–15. |
6–12. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.7–1 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary glabrous; styles 2.5–2.8 mm, usually unbranched. |
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, 5–7 × 5–6 mm, unlobed; cocci rounded to subangular, smooth, glabrous; columella 4.5–5 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. |
brownish to grayish, oblong, 2.8–4.5 × 2–3.2 mm, vermiculate-rugose; caruncle substipitate, trapezoidal or mushroom-shaped, 1.3–1.5 × 0.6–0.8 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. |
arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 2–12, each 1–2 times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts similar in shape and size to distal leaves; dichasial bracts distinct, suborbiculate or reniform, base truncate, margins entire or minutely denticulate, apex obtuse, mucronulate; axillary cymose branches 0–4. |
Cyathia | peduncle 0.2–1 mm. |
peduncle 0.5–1 mm. |
Euphorbia helioscopia |
Euphorbia myrsinites |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. | Flowering and fruiting spring–summer. |
Habitat | Roadsides, waste places. | Scrub oak communities, open ground near forests, shrub-steppes. |
Elevation | 0–1400 m. (0–4600 ft.) | 0–2400 m. (0–7900 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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CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; OR; UT; WA; WY; BC; s Europe; w Asia [Introduced in North America]
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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.) |
Euphorbia myrsinites is cultivated in much of the flora area, where it can tolerate cold winters. In some areas, it can locally escape from cultivation. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 303. | FNA vol. 12, p. 305. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Galarhoeus helioscopius, Tithymalus helioscopius | Tithymalus myrsinites |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 459. (1753) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 461. (1753) |
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