Euphorbia ipecacuanhae |
Euphorbia cyparissias |
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American ipecac, Carolina ipecac, ipecac spurge |
cypress spurge, euphorbe cypress, graveyard spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, with deep, stout rootstock. | Herbs, perennial, with slender, spreading rootstock. |
Stems | decumbent or slightly ascending, branched, often densely clumped, previous year's dead stems not persistent, 17–27 cm, usually glabrous, rarely sparsely villous. |
erect or ascending, unbranched or branched, often with short axillary vegetative shoots with very narrow leaves, 10–50 cm, glabrous. |
Leaves | alternate; stipules 0.1–0.2 mm; petiole (0–)1–2 mm, glabrous; blade usually linear, obovate, or oblanceolate to orbiculate, rarely filiform, proximal greatly reduced, scalelike, 15–70 × 1.5–13 mm gradually smaller proximally, base cuneate, margins entire, apex rounded, broadly acute, or emarginate, surfaces glabrous; venation occasionally obscure on smaller leaves, midvein conspicuous. |
petiole absent; blade linear to linear-ovate or linear-oblanceolate, 5–30 × 0.5–3 mm, base rounded to cuneate, margins entire, apex rounded to acute, surfaces glabrous; venation inconspicuous, only midvein prominent. |
Involucre | yellow or yellow-green, hemispheric, 1–1.2 × 2–2.4 mm, glabrous; glands 5, yellow or yellow-green, obovate or elliptic, 0.7–0.8 × 1–1.2 mm; appendages white or green, often forming narrow rim around distal margin of gland, 0–0.2 mm, entire. |
campanulate to slightly urceolate, 1.5–2 × 0.9–1.1 mm, glabrous; glands 4, crescent-shaped; 0.4–0.6 × 0.7–1.3 mm; horns convergent, 0.1–0.5 mm. |
Staminate flowers | 10–20. |
15–25. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.4–0.8 mm, 2-fid at apex. |
ovary glabrous; styles 1–1.2 mm, 2-fid. |
Capsules | globose, 2.3–3.4 × 3.5–4.2 mm, glabrous; columella 3–3.1 mm. |
subglobose, 2.5–3 × 3–4 mm, slightly lobed; cocci rounded, granulate, glabrous; columella 1.9–2.1 mm. |
Seeds | white or brown, ovoid, 2.3–2.5 × 1.5 mm, angular, with 5 longitudinal ridges, shallowly and irregularly pitted; caruncle absent. |
blackish, ovoid-oblong, 1.8–2.5 × 1.4–1.7 mm, smooth; caruncle nipple-shaped or subreniform, 0.2–0.4 × 0.7–1.1 mm. |
Cyathia | usually in terminal dichasia, sometimes pleiochasia; peduncle 10–50(–70) mm, glabrous. |
peduncle 0–0.5 mm. |
Cyathial | arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 6–25, each 1–2-times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts similar in shape to distal leaves except shorter and wider; dichasial bracts distinct, widely ovate, rhombic or reniform, base obtuse to truncate, margins entire, apex acute or obtuse, sometimes mucronulate; axillary cymose branches 0–15. |
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Euphorbia ipecacuanhae |
Euphorbia cyparissias |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting early spring–early summer. | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. |
Habitat | Pine and pine-oak savannas, pine-oak sand hills, turkey oak scrub, open sand habitats. | Fields, roadsides, waste places. |
Elevation | 0–150 m. (0–500 ft.) | 0–1500 m. (0–4900 ft.) |
Distribution |
CT; DC; DE; GA; MD; NC; NJ; NY; PA; SC; VA
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AR; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SC; TN; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK; Europe [Introduced in North America]
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Discussion | The vegetative stems of Euphorbia ipecacuanhae are often quite short in proportion to the dichasial or pleiochasial branches, thus superficially plants often appear to have mostly opposite leaves. However, careful examination of the base of the plant will reveal alternate leaves. The leaves are extremely variable in both shape and coloration, and the variation can be pronounced within a population or even on a single plant. M. J. Huft (1979) did not recognize infraspecific taxa within E. ipecacuanhae, and his treatment is followed here. This species is found on the Atlantic coastal plain. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 247. | FNA vol. 12, p. 301. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. arundelana, Tithymalopsis ipecacuanhae | Galarhoeus cyparissias, Tithymalus cyparissias |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 455. (1753) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 461. (1753) |
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