Euphorbia hypericifolia |
Euphorbia dendroides |
|
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graceful sandmat, graceful spurge |
tree spurge |
|
Habit | Herbs, annual, with taproot. | Shrubs, dendroid, with large rootstock. |
Stems | erect to ascending, 15–50 cm, glabrous. |
erect, stout, densely branched, to 200 cm, glabrous, bark usually reddish and glossy toward tip of branches. |
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. |
petiole absent; blade linear-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 20–65 × 3–8 mm, base attenuate, margins entire, apex obtuse to acute, sometimes mucronulate, surfaces glabrous; venation pinnate, midvein prominent, base attenuate. |
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. |
broadly turbinate to hemispheric, 3–4 × 3.5–3.8 mm, glabrous; glands 4, suborbiculate to subtrapezoidal, 1–1.5 × 1.2–1.8 mm, sometimes irregularly lobed; horns absent. |
Staminate flowers | (0–)2–20. |
20–25. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.4 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
ovary glabrous; styles 2.4–3 mm, 2-fid. |
Capsules | depressed-globoid, 1.3–1.4 × 1.1–1.5 mm, glabrous; columella 1–1.1 mm. |
subglobose, 4–5.5 × 4–6.5 mm, deeply lobed; cocci laterally compressed, smooth, glabrous; columella 3–4 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. |
grayish or blackish, ovoid and strongly laterally compressed, 3–3.5 × 1.5–2 mm, smooth; caruncle semirounded and laterally compressed, 1.2–1.4 × 0.8–1.8 mm. |
Cyathia | in dense, axillary and terminal, capitate glomerules with reduced, bractlike leaves subtending cyathia; peduncle 0.5–1.8 mm. |
peduncle absent. |
Cyathial | arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 4–8, unbranched or 1–2-times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts similar in shape to but usually shorter and wider than distal leaves; dichasial bracts distinct, yellowish, broadly ovate, orbiculate, rhombic, or reniform, base obtuse, margins entire, apex obtuse, sometimes mucronulate; axillary pleiochasial absent. |
|
Euphorbia hypericifolia |
Euphorbia dendroides |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting early spring–late fall. | Flowering and fruiting fall–spring. |
Habitat | Open, disturbed areas, nurseries. | Coastal plains and basins, hillsides. |
Elevation | 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) | 0–500 m. (0–1600 ft.) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; OK; SC; TX; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in Asia, Pacific Islands]
|
CA; Europe; n Africa [Introduced in North America] |
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.) |
Euphorbia dendroides is native to the Mediterranean region. In the flora area, the species is known from Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 272. | FNA vol. 12, p. 302. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Chamaesyce glomerifera, C. hypericifolia, E. glomerifera | Tithymalus dendroides |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 454. (1753) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 462. (1753) |
Web links |