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graceful sandmat, graceful spurge

black-seed spurge

Habit Herbs, annual, with taproot. Herbs, annual, with slender taproot.
Stems

erect to ascending, 15–50 cm, glabrous.

erect, branched, 10–35 cm, glabrous or strigillose (especially when young and around nodes).

Leaves

opposite;

stipules connate, deltate, usually entire, sometimes laciniate-fringed at tip, 1.5–2.2 mm, glabrous;

petiole 1–3 mm, glabrous;

blade obliquely oblong-oblanceolate, 10–35 × 7–15 mm, base asymmetric, oblique, margins serrate or serrulate, especially toward apex, apex broadly acute, surfaces glabrous; palmately veined at base, pinnate distally.

opposite proximally, alternate distally;

stipules 0.1–0.2 mm;

petiole 1–4(–6) mm, glabrous, sericeous or strigillose;

blade linear to narrowly elliptic, 8–52 × 2–7 mm, base attenuate, margins entire, ciliate-strigose, apex acute, abaxial surface sparsely strigillose to sericeous, adaxial surface usually glabrous;

venation obscure, only midvein conspicuous.

Involucre

obconic, 0.9–1.1 × 0.4–0.9 mm, glabrous;

glands 4, yellow-green to brown, stipitate, subcircular, 0.2 × 0.2 mm, occasionally nearly rudimentary;

appendages absent on smaller glands or white to pink, shape highly variable, usually round to ± elliptic, 0.3–0.4 × 0.5–0.7 mm, distal margin entire.

obconic, 0.9–1.5 × 0.9–1.3 mm, strigillose to pilose;

glands 5, yellow or pink, U-shaped, 0.2–0.3 × 0.4–0.5 mm;

appendages greenish, white, or pink, forming narrow rim around gland, or ovate, oblong, or obovate and usually 2-fid, rarely rudimentary, 0.2–1.4 × 0.2–0.6 mm, entire.

Staminate flowers

(0–)2–20.

20–25.

Pistillate flowers

ovary glabrous;

styles 0.4 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length.

ovary glabrous, puberulent, strigillose, or pilose;

styles 0.5–0.8 mm, 2-fid 1/3–1/2 length.

Capsules

depressed-globoid, 1.3–1.4 × 1.1–1.5 mm, glabrous;

columella 1–1.1 mm.

oblate, 1.5–2.6 × 2.1–3.3 mm, glabrous or puberulent, strigillose, or pilose;

columella 1.2–2.1 mm.

Seeds

with very thin whitish mucilaginous coat over light brown testa below, ovoid-triangular, bluntly 4-angled in cross section, 0.9–1.1 × 0.5 mm, with shallow irregular depressions alternating with low, smooth ridges.

brown to grayish black, narrowly ovoid, 3- or 4-angled in cross section, sometimes obscurely so, 1.3–1.9 × 1–1.4 mm, tuberculate, often with shallow depressions;

caruncle absent.

Cyathia

in dense, axillary and terminal, capitate glomerules with reduced, bractlike leaves subtending cyathia;

peduncle 0.5–1.8 mm.

solitary at distal nodes or in weakly defined cymes or dichasia, dichasial bracts and distal stem leaves wholly green;

peduncle 0.5–3.6 mm, strigillose.

2n

= 32.

Euphorbia hypericifolia

Euphorbia bilobata

Phenology Flowering and fruiting early spring–late fall. Flowering and fruiting spring–fall.
Habitat Open, disturbed areas, nurseries. Sandy and rocky soils on slopes and canyon bottoms in pine-juniper woodlands, oak woodlands, grasslands.
Elevation 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) 1400–2600 m. (4600–8500 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; OK; SC; TX; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in Asia, Pacific Islands]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; NM; TX; Mexico (Chihuahua, Durango, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Euphorbia hypericifolia is native to the New World tropics, and it is most likely adventive in the flora area (where it is most widely distributed in Florida and Texas). Reports from Arizona, California, and Maryland likely represent waifs or misidentifications.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

In Texas, Euphorbia bilobata is known only from Jeff Davis County.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 12, p. 272. FNA vol. 12, p. 243.
Parent taxa Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum
Sibling taxa
E. aaron-rossii, E. abramsiana, E. acuta, E. agraria, E. albomarginata, E. alta, E. angusta, E. antisyphilitica, E. arizonica, E. astyla, E. austrotexana, E. bicolor, E. bifurcata, E. bilobata, E. blodgettii, E. bombensis, E. brachycera, E. capitellata, E. carunculata, E. chaetocalyx, E. chamaesula, E. cinerascens, E. commutata, E. conferta, E. cordifolia, E. corollata, E. crenulata, E. cumulicola, E. cuphosperma, E. curtisii, E. cyathophora, E. cyparissias, E. davidii, E. deltoidea, E. dendroides, E. dentata, E. discoidalis, E. eriantha, E. exigua, E. exserta, E. exstipulata, E. falcata, E. fendleri, E. florida, E. floridana, E. garberi, E. georgiana, E. geyeri, E. glyptosperma, E. golondrina, E. gracillima, E. graminea, E. helioscopia, E. helleri, E. heterophylla, E. hexagona, E. hirta, E. hooveri, E. humistrata, E. hyssopifolia, E. indivisa, E. innocua, E. inundata, E. ipecacuanhae, E. jaegeri, E. jejuna, E. laredana, E. lasiocarpa, E. lata, E. lathyris, E. longicruris, E. lurida, E. macropus, E. maculata, E. marginata, E. meganaesos, E. melanadenia, E. mendezii, E. mercurialina, E. mesembrianthemifolia, E. micromera, E. misera, E. missurica, E. myrsinites, E. nephradenia, E. nutans, E. oblongata, E. ocellata, E. ophthalmica, E. ouachitana, E. parishii, E. parryi, E. pediculifera, E. peplidion, E. peplus, E. perennans, E. pergamena, E. pinetorum, E. platyphyllos, E. platysperma, E. polycarpa, E. polygonifolia, E. polyphylla, E. porteriana, E. prostrata, E. pubentissima, E. purpurea, E. radians, E. rayturneri, E. revoluta, E. roemeriana, E. rosescens, E. schizoloba, E. serpens, E. serpillifolia, E. serrata, E. serrula, E. setiloba, E. simulans, E. spathulata, E. stictospora, E. strictior, E. telephioides, E. terracina, E. tetrapora, E. texana, E. theriaca, E. thymifolia, E. tithymaloides, E. trachysperma, E. trichotoma, E. vallis-mortae, E. velleriflora, E. vermiculata, E. villifera, E. virgata, E. wrightii, E. yaquiana
E. aaron-rossii, E. abramsiana, E. acuta, E. agraria, E. albomarginata, E. alta, E. angusta, E. antisyphilitica, E. arizonica, E. astyla, E. austrotexana, E. bicolor, E. bifurcata, E. blodgettii, E. bombensis, E. brachycera, E. capitellata, E. carunculata, E. chaetocalyx, E. chamaesula, E. cinerascens, E. commutata, E. conferta, E. cordifolia, E. corollata, E. crenulata, E. cumulicola, E. cuphosperma, E. curtisii, E. cyathophora, E. cyparissias, E. davidii, E. deltoidea, E. dendroides, E. dentata, E. discoidalis, E. eriantha, E. exigua, E. exserta, E. exstipulata, E. falcata, E. fendleri, E. florida, E. floridana, E. garberi, E. georgiana, E. geyeri, E. glyptosperma, E. golondrina, E. gracillima, E. graminea, E. helioscopia, E. helleri, E. heterophylla, E. hexagona, E. hirta, E. hooveri, E. humistrata, E. hypericifolia, E. hyssopifolia, E. indivisa, E. innocua, E. inundata, E. ipecacuanhae, E. jaegeri, E. jejuna, E. laredana, E. lasiocarpa, E. lata, E. lathyris, E. longicruris, E. lurida, E. macropus, E. maculata, E. marginata, E. meganaesos, E. melanadenia, E. mendezii, E. mercurialina, E. mesembrianthemifolia, E. micromera, E. misera, E. missurica, E. myrsinites, E. nephradenia, E. nutans, E. oblongata, E. ocellata, E. ophthalmica, E. ouachitana, E. parishii, E. parryi, E. pediculifera, E. peplidion, E. peplus, E. perennans, E. pergamena, E. pinetorum, E. platyphyllos, E. platysperma, E. polycarpa, E. polygonifolia, E. polyphylla, E. porteriana, E. prostrata, E. pubentissima, E. purpurea, E. radians, E. rayturneri, E. revoluta, E. roemeriana, E. rosescens, E. schizoloba, E. serpens, E. serpillifolia, E. serrata, E. serrula, E. setiloba, E. simulans, E. spathulata, E. stictospora, E. strictior, E. telephioides, E. terracina, E. tetrapora, E. texana, E. theriaca, E. thymifolia, E. tithymaloides, E. trachysperma, E. trichotoma, E. vallis-mortae, E. velleriflora, E. vermiculata, E. villifera, E. virgata, E. wrightii, E. yaquiana
Synonyms Chamaesyce glomerifera, C. hypericifolia, E. glomerifera
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 454. (1753) Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 190. (1859)
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