Euphorbia hypericifolia |
Euphorbia deltoidea |
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graceful sandmat, graceful spurge |
wedge sandmat |
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Habit | Herbs, annual, with taproot. | Herbs, perennial, delicate, with woody, thickened taproot, 15 mm diam.. | ||||||||||||||||
Stems | erect to ascending, 15–50 cm, glabrous. |
prostrate, ascending, or erect, often numerous and wiry, less than 0.1 mm diam., 5–20 cm, glabrous, puberulent, canescent, villous, or hirsute, shorter hairs often uncinate and longer hairs straight or irregularly twisted. |
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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; stipules distinct, triangular, sometimes lacerate or ciliate, 0.2–0.3 mm, glabrous or hairy; petiole 0.3–1 mm, glabrous or hairy; blade narrowly to broadly deltate, cordate, or reniform, 2–5(–7) × 1–4.5(–5) mm, base asymmetric, cordate to rounded, margins entire, ± revolute, apex obtuse or rounded, surfaces glabrous or hairy; only midvein conspicuous. |
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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. |
turbinate to campanulate, 0.8–1 × 1.1–1.3 mm, glabrous or hairy; glands 4, green to yellow-green, oblong to subcircular, 0.2–0.4 × 0.4–0.6 mm; appendages absent or white, forming narrow rim at edge of gland, rarely slightly wider than gland, (0–)0.1(–0.3) × 0.4–0.6 mm, distal margin entire. |
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Staminate flowers | (0–)2–20. |
8–14. |
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Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.4 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
ovary glabrous or hairy, subtended by triangular pad of tissue; styles spreading, 0.3–0.4 mm, 2-fid 1/2 to nearly entire length. |
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Capsules | depressed-globoid, 1.3–1.4 × 1.1–1.5 mm, glabrous; columella 1–1.1 mm. |
broadly deltoid, 1.2–1.5 × 2–2.2 mm, glabrous or hairy; columella 0.9–1.3 mm. |
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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. |
reddish brown, ovoid, 4-angled in cross section, 0.8–1.2 × 0.5–0.6 mm, obscurely wrinkled. |
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Cyathia | in dense, axillary and terminal, capitate glomerules with reduced, bractlike leaves subtending cyathia; peduncle 0.5–1.8 mm. |
solitary at distal nodes; peduncle 0.7–1.5 mm. |
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Euphorbia hypericifolia |
Euphorbia deltoidea |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting early spring–late fall. | |||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Open, disturbed areas, nurseries. | |||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) | |||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; OK; SC; TX; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in Asia, Pacific Islands]
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FL |
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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.) |
Subspecies 4 (4 in the flora). Euphorbia deltoidea comprises four narrowly endemic subspecies, all of which are endangered due to habitat loss and fragmentation. The subspecies occur in pine rockland habitat that is free of shrubby undergrowth. Periodic fires are required to keep the rockland habitat open. Subspecies serpyllum is restricted to Big Pine Key, Monroe County, whereas the other subspecies are found only in Miami-Dade County. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 272. | FNA vol. 12, p. 265. | ||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | ||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | Chamaesyce glomerifera, C. hypericifolia, E. glomerifera | Chamaesyce deltoidea | ||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 454. (1753) | Engelmann ex Chapman: Fl. South. U.S. ed. 2, 647. (1883) | ||||||||||||||||
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