Euphorbia hypericifolia |
Euphorbia rosescens |
|
---|---|---|
graceful sandmat, graceful spurge |
rosy-pink spurge, scrub spurge |
|
Habit | Herbs, annual, with taproot. | Herbs, perennial, with thickened rootstock. |
Stems | erect to ascending, 15–50 cm, glabrous. |
erect or ascending, 15–45 cm. |
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 indistinct, blade narrowly elliptic, elliptic, narrowly oblong, or obovate, 25–55 × 5–21 mm, thick and fleshy, base attenuate, apex acute or mucronulate; only midvein evident. |
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 to campanulate, 2.4–3.6 × 2.5–3.6 mm, lobes ovate to oblong, 0.7–1 mm, ciliate; glands green to yellow, oblong or trapezoidal, 0.9–1.7 × 1.9–2.5 mm, distal margins crenulate-erose. |
Staminate flowers | (0–)2–20. |
25. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.4 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
mature gynophore not seen, styles connate 1/2 length, 3.3–3.6 mm. |
Capsules | depressed-globoid, 1.3–1.4 × 1.1–1.5 mm, glabrous; columella 1–1.1 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. |
not seen. |
Cyathia | in dense, axillary and terminal, capitate glomerules with reduced, bractlike leaves subtending cyathia; peduncle 0.5–1.8 mm. |
peduncle 3.9–6.8 mm. |
Cyathial | arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 3, 7–16 cm, 4–7 times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts ovate to oblong, 17–31 × 13–14 mm, margins entire, apex acute, often also mucronulate; dichasial bracts ovate or lanceolate, 6–18 × 8–12 mm, margins entire, apex acute, often also mucronate; axillary cymose branches 1–2. |
|
Mature | capsules not seen. |
|
Euphorbia hypericifolia |
Euphorbia rosescens |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting early spring–late fall. | Flowering and fruiting spring–summer, rarely fall. |
Habitat | Open, disturbed areas, nurseries. | Xeric oak and pine scrub, mostly on white sands, disturbed habitats. |
Elevation | 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) | 20–50 m. (100–200 ft.) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; OK; SC; TX; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in Asia, Pacific Islands]
|
FL |
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 rosescens is a narrow-endemic, gap-specialist known only from the southern portion of the Lake Wales Ridge in Highlands County. Based on leaf characteristics, it appears to be most similar to E. telephioides. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 272. | FNA vol. 12, p. 316. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Nummulariopsis |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Chamaesyce glomerifera, C. hypericifolia, E. glomerifera | |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 454. (1753) | E. L. Bridges & Orzell: Lundellia 5: 71, fig. 4. (2002) |
Web links |