Euphorbia hypericifolia |
Euphorbia telephioides |
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graceful sandmat, graceful spurge |
telephus spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, annual, with taproot. | Herbs, perennial, with thickened rootstock. |
Stems | erect to ascending, 15–50 cm, glabrous. |
erect or ascending, 20–30 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 usually absent or indistinct, occasionally to 5.5 mm, blade elliptic or obovate, 31–60 × 7–32 mm, thick and fleshy, base attenuate or cuneate, apex acute, obtuse, or mucronate; venation pinnate with 8–13 lateral veins, these sometimes obscure and 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. |
campanulate, 1.3–2.3 × 1.6–2.5 mm, lobes ovate to oblong, 0.5–0.7 mm, ciliate; glands purple-red, oblong to trapezoidal, 0.5–0.7 × 0.8–1.2 mm, distal margins entire or crenulate. |
Staminate flowers | (0–)2–20. |
25–30. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.4 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
gynophore exserted 1.9–3.2 mm, calyxlike lobes triangular, 0.2–0.7 mm; styles connate 1/4 length, 1.3–1.5 mm. |
Capsules | depressed-globoid, 1.3–1.4 × 1.1–1.5 mm, glabrous; columella 1–1.1 mm. |
ovoid-oblate, 5.2–5.6 × 6.6–8.3 mm, 3-lobed; columella 3.9–4.1 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. |
blackish to dark brown, ovoid to globose-ovoid, circular in cross section, 3.2–3.5 × 2.6–3.1 mm, smooth, base rounded to flattened, apex rounded, occasionally with low point. |
Cyathia | in dense, axillary and terminal, capitate glomerules with reduced, bractlike leaves subtending cyathia; peduncle 0.5–1.8 mm. |
peduncle 3–9.2 mm (often exceeding subcyathial leaves). |
Cyathial | arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches (2–)3, 5–13 cm, 3–7 times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts ovate to oblong, 17–31 × 8–15 mm, margins entire, apex acute or obtuse; dichasial bracts ovate, 5–19 × 3–9 mm, margins entire, apex acute or obtuse; axillary cymose branches 1–5. |
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Euphorbia hypericifolia |
Euphorbia telephioides |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting early spring–late fall. | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. |
Habitat | Open, disturbed areas, nurseries. | Scrubby pine flatwoods, grasslands, disturbed areas, often in sandy soils. |
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]
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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 telephioides, federally listed as threatened, is known only from Bay, Franklin, and Gulf counties in the Apalachicola region of the east-central Florida panhandle. (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 | Galarhoeus telephioides |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 454. (1753) | Chapman: Fl. South. U.S., 402. (1860) |
Web links |