Euphorbia helioscopia |
Euphorbia porteriana |
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euphorbe réveille-matin, mad woman's milk, summer spurge, sun spurge, wart spurge, wartweed |
Porter's sandmat |
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Habit | Herbs, annual, with taproot. | Herbs, usually annual, sometimes perennial, with slender to occasionally thickened taproot, 5 mm diam.. |
Stems | erect, unbranched or branched, 5–45 cm, usually glabrous or sparsely pilose. |
erect to ascending, sometimes slightly woody at base, not mat-forming, 15–60 cm, usually glabrous, young branches rarely very sparsely short pubescent. |
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 usually distinct, occasionally connate basally, triangular, entire or 2–4 parted, apically ciliate, 0.3–0.4 mm, usually glabrous, rarely very sparsely short pubescent; petiole 0.5–1.5 mm, usually glabrous, rarely very sparsely short pubescent; blade ovate, oval, elliptic, oblong-elliptic, or linear-elliptic, 4–12 × 1–7 mm, base asymmetric, rounded or subcordate, margins usually entire, rarely sparsely serrate, apex obtuse to acute, sometimes mucronate, surfaces abaxially often purple or red, adaxially green, usually glabrous, rarely very sparsely short pubescent; 3-veined from base, 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. |
turbinate to campanulate, 0.7–1 × 0.8–1 mm, usually glabrous, rarely very sparsely short pubescent; glands 4, brown, slightly concave, elliptic-oblong, 0.1–0.2 × 0.3–0.6 mm; appendages white or pink to dark red, usually oblong or flabellate, occasionally rudimentary and forming narrow rim at edge of gland, (0–)0.1–0.2 × 0.4–1 mm, distal margin entire or crenulate. |
Staminate flowers | 10–15. |
8–14. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.7–1 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary glabrous, subtended by triangular calyxlike structure; styles 0.4–0.6 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. |
broadly ovoid, 1–1.5 × 1.7–2.1 mm, glabrous; columella 1–1.4 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. |
reddish brown, ovoid, 4-angled in cross section, 0.7–1 × 0.6–0.7 mm, smooth or obscurely wrinkled. |
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 0.5–1.1 mm. |
Euphorbia helioscopia |
Euphorbia porteriana |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. | Flowering and fruiting year-round. |
Habitat | Roadsides, waste places. | Pine rocklands, coastal scrub, open hammocks. |
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 |
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 porteriana is found in Miami-Dade County and on Big Pine Key, Monroe County. This species is closely related to E. blodgettii, E. garberi, and E. serpens. The capsules of E. porteriana are almost always completely glabrous, but the authors have seen three specimens with just a few scattered hairs on the keels. A. Herndon (1993) synonymized E. porteriana var. keyensis under E. garberi because of its uniformly hairy capsules, and that treatment is followed here. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 303. | FNA vol. 12, p. 285. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Galarhoeus helioscopius, Tithymalus helioscopius | Chamaesyce porteriana, C. porteriana var. scoparia, C. scoparia |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 459. (1753) | (Small) Oudejans: Phytologia 67: 48. (1989) |
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