Euphorbia hypericifolia |
Euphorbia perennans |
|
---|---|---|
graceful sandmat, graceful spurge |
perennial sandmat, Terlingua spurge |
|
Habit | Herbs, annual, with taproot. | Herbs, perennial, with strongly thickened, woody rootstock. |
Stems | erect to ascending, 15–50 cm, glabrous. |
erect, 7–45 cm, glabrous. |
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, linear-filiform in (1–)2(–3) segments, 0.3–0.4 mm, glabrous; petiole 0.8–2 mm, glabrous; blade ovate or orbiculate-deltate to reniform-deltate, 5–17 × 4–16 mm midstem leaves largest, base symmetric, cuneate, rounded to cordate, margins entire, apex acute to rounded, surfaces glabrous, often glaucous; 3-veined from base, 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. |
broadly-campanulate to hemispheric, 1.7–2.2 × 1.5–2.7 mm, glabrous; glands 4, green to yellow-green, elliptic to oblong, folded longitudinally, 0.3–0.5 × 0.7–1.4 mm; appendages absent. |
Staminate flowers | (0–)2–20. |
35–45. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.4 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.7–0.9 mm, 2-fid nearly entire length. |
Capsules | depressed-globoid, 1.3–1.4 × 1.1–1.5 mm, glabrous; columella 1–1.1 mm. |
subglobose to broadly ovoid, 2.8–3.3 × 2.8–3.4 mm, glabrous; columella 2.2–2.7 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. |
white to light brown, ovoid, 3–4-angled in cross section, 2–2.4 × 1–1.2 mm, smooth to faintly transverse-wrinkled. |
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 at nodes of short, axillary branches; peduncle 1.8–3 mm. |
Euphorbia hypericifolia |
Euphorbia perennans |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting early spring–late fall. | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. |
Habitat | Open, disturbed areas, nurseries. | Desert scrub, on cretaceous and gypseous clay, limestone hills and flats. |
Elevation | 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) | 900–1200 m. (3000–3900 ft.) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; OK; SC; TX; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in Asia, Pacific Islands]
|
TX; Mexico (Chihuahua) |
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 perennans is a distinctive species with an erect habit and relatively large, firm, deltate midstem leaves. Phylogenetic data place E. perennans in a clade of primarily Chihuahuan Desert annual and perennial species (for example, E. chaetocalyx, E. fendleri, E. golondrina, E. simulans, E. spurca, and E. theriaca; Y. Yang and P. E. Berry 2011). Euphorbia perennans is known in the flora area only from Brewster County. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 272. | FNA vol. 12, p. 282. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Chamaesyce glomerifera, C. hypericifolia, E. glomerifera | Chamaesyce perennans |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 454. (1753) | (Shinners) Warnock & M. C. Johnston: SouthW. Naturalist 5: 170. (1960) |
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