Euphorbia hypericifolia |
Euphorbia innocua |
|
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graceful sandmat, graceful spurge |
velvet spurge |
|
Habit | Herbs, annual, with taproot. | Herbs, perennial, with moderately to strongly thickened rootstock. |
Stems | erect to ascending, 15–50 cm, glabrous. |
prostrate to decumbent or ascending, branched (often near base), 7–45 cm, densely pilose. |
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. |
alternate; stipules to 0.1 mm; petiole (0.7–)1.1–3.5 mm, pilose; blade ovate to orbiculate, 4.6–17(–25) × 4.5–15(–19) mm, base cordate, margins entire, apex rounded to obtuse, surfaces densely pilose; venation obscure, usually 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. |
campanulate, 1–1.3 × 1.2–1.4 mm, pilose; glands 4, yellow to green, elliptic, 0.2–0.3 × 0.5–0.6 mm; appendages green, elliptic, 0.4–0.5 × 0.5–0.9 mm, entire or crenulate, ciliate. |
Staminate flowers | (0–)2–20. |
5–10. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.4 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
ovary pilose; styles 0.4–0.7 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
Capsules | depressed-globoid, 1.3–1.4 × 1.1–1.5 mm, glabrous; columella 1–1.1 mm. |
depressed-ovoid, 2–2.5 × 2.7–3.3 mm, pilose; columella 1.6–2.1 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. |
gray to brown, ovoid, 1.5–1.7 × 1.2–1.3 mm, rugose with whitish ridges; caruncle absent. |
Cyathia | in dense, axillary and terminal, capitate glomerules with reduced, bractlike leaves subtending cyathia; peduncle 0.5–1.8 mm. |
in terminal dichasia (often weakly defined); peduncle 1–2.7 mm, densely pilose. |
Euphorbia hypericifolia |
Euphorbia innocua |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting early spring–late fall. | Flowering and fruiting early winter–late spring. |
Habitat | Open, disturbed areas, nurseries. | Sandy soils or dunes, grasslands, pastures. |
Elevation | 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) | 0–20 m. (0–100 ft.) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; OK; SC; TX; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in Asia, Pacific Islands]
|
TX |
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 innocua is restricted to south coastal Texas in Aransas, Calhoun, Kenedy, Kleberg, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, and Willacy counties. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 272. | FNA vol. 12, p. 247. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Chamaesyce glomerifera, C. hypericifolia, E. glomerifera | |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 454. (1753) | L. C. Wheeler: Contr. Gray Herb. 127: 62, plate 3, fig. D. (1939) |
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