Euphorbia hypericifolia |
Euphorbia theriaca |
|||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
graceful sandmat, graceful spurge |
Terlingua sandmat, Terlingua spurge |
|||||
Habit | Herbs, annual, with taproot. | Herbs, annual, with slender taproot. | ||||
Stems | erect to ascending, 15–50 cm, glabrous. |
prostrate to reclining, not mat-forming, 5–30 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 usually distinct, occasionally connate basally on lower side of stem, subulate or scalelike, usually entire, occasionally 2-fid or margin sparsely ciliate, 0.4–1 mm, glabrous; petiole 0.7–1.2(–1.5) mm, glabrous; blade ovate, oblong, orbiculate, or obovate, 2–7.1 × 1–3.5 mm, base slightly asymmetric, rounded, margins entire, often revolute on drying, apex usually rounded, occasionally slightly emarginate, surfaces glabrous; venation usually obscure, 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. |
usually turbinate-campanulate to hemispheric, occasionally suburceolate, 1–1.8 × 0.9–1.4 mm, glabrous; glands 4, yellow-green to red-purple, sessile or short-stipitate, subcircular to slightly elliptic, 0.2–0.5 × 0.2–0.7 mm; appendages absent or white to pink, semilunate or forming rim at edge of gland, (0–)0.1–0.4 × (0–)0.3–0.9 mm, entire or slightly crenate. |
||||
Staminate flowers | (0–)2–20. |
15–36. |
||||
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.4 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.3–0.5 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
||||
Capsules | depressed-globoid, 1.3–1.4 × 1.1–1.5 mm, glabrous; columella 1–1.1 mm. |
broadly ovoid, 1.1–1.6 × 1.5–1.8 mm, glabrous; columella 1.2–1.5 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. |
whitish, reddish brown beneath coat, ovate, 4-angled in cross section, 0.8–1.2 × 0.5–0.8 mm, with (2–)3(–5) deep transverse ridges. |
||||
Cyathia | in dense, axillary and terminal, capitate glomerules with reduced, bractlike leaves subtending cyathia; peduncle 0.5–1.8 mm. |
usually solitary at distal nodes, rarely clustered on short, axillary branches; peduncle 0.3–1.3 mm. |
||||
2n | = 28. |
|||||
Euphorbia hypericifolia |
Euphorbia theriaca |
|||||
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting early spring–late fall. | |||||
Habitat | Open, disturbed areas, nurseries. | |||||
Elevation | 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) | |||||
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; OK; SC; TX; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in Asia, Pacific Islands]
|
NM; TX; n Mexico
|
||||
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.) |
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
||||
Key |
|
|||||
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 272. | FNA vol. 12, p. 290. | ||||
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Chamaesyce glomerifera, C. hypericifolia, E. glomerifera | Chamaesyce theriaca | ||||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 454. (1753) | L. C. Wheeler: Rhodora 43: 242, plate 660, fig. A. (1941) | ||||
Web links |