Euphorbia ipecacuanhae |
Euphorbia nutans |
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American ipecac, Carolina ipecac, ipecac spurge |
eyebane, eyebane sandmat, eyebane spurge, nodding or upright spotted spurge, nodding spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, with deep, stout rootstock. | Herbs, annual, with taproot. |
Stems | decumbent or slightly ascending, branched, often densely clumped, previous year's dead stems not persistent, 17–27 cm, usually glabrous, rarely sparsely villous. |
usually ascending, occasionally erect, often arched at tips, 20–80 cm, sparsely to moderately pilose to villous or with short, incurved hairs, hairs often concentrated at nodes and distally, occasionally in 2 bands along opposite sides of stem. |
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. |
opposite; stipules usually distinct, sometimes connate basally on one side of stem, small scales, irregularly toothed, fringed, or divided, 1–1.5 mm, sparsely to moderately villous distally; petiole 0.3–1.6 mm, moderately pilose to villous; blade oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 8–40 × 3–12 mm, base asymmetric, one side usually angled or rounded, other side ± truncate to cordate-auriculate, margins serrulate, apex angled with blunt tip, abaxial surface pale green or faintly to strongly reddish tinged, adaxial surface usually reddish-mottled or with conspicuous reddish spot, both surfaces usually sparsely to moderately pilose, especially toward base, sometimes glabrous; 3–5-veined from base, pinnate distally, veins faint. |
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. |
narrowly obconic, 0.5–1 × 0.3–0.7 mm, glabrous; glands 4, usually green, sometimes reddish purple, oblong to nearly circular, 0.2–0.4 × 0.3–0.5 mm; appendages white or pinkish, ovate to broadly elliptic, 0.2–1 × 0.2–1.5 mm, distal margin entire. |
Staminate flowers | 10–20. |
5–28. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.4–0.8 mm, 2-fid at apex. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.6–2.5 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
Capsules | globose, 2.3–3.4 × 3.5–4.2 mm, glabrous; columella 3–3.1 mm. |
ovoid, 1.6–2.3 × 1.5–2.4 mm, glabrous; columella 1.4–1.6 mm. |
Seeds | white or brown, ovoid, 2.3–2.5 × 1.5 mm, angular, with 5 longitudinal ridges, shallowly and irregularly pitted; caruncle absent. |
dark brown, sometimes with thin, white coating (often more persistent along angles than faces), elliptic-ovoid to ovoid, rounded-angular in cross section, 1–1.6 × 0.5–0.8 mm, surface finely and irregularly wrinkled, sometimes faintly so, or with indistinct, shallow, rounded cross ridges. |
Cyathia | usually in terminal dichasia, sometimes pleiochasia; peduncle 10–50(–70) mm, glabrous. |
solitary at distal nodes or in small, cymose clusters at branch tips; peduncle 0.5–2.5 mm. |
2n | = 12, 14, 22. |
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Euphorbia ipecacuanhae |
Euphorbia nutans |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting early spring–early summer. | Flowering and fruiting spring–early fall. |
Habitat | Pine and pine-oak savannas, pine-oak sand hills, turkey oak scrub, open sand habitats. | Stream banks, pond edges, disturbed portions of upland prairies, mesic to dry upland forest openings, pastures, fallow fields, railroads, roadsides, gardens, disturbed areas. |
Elevation | 0–150 m. (0–500 ft.) | 0–1600 m. (0–5200 ft.) |
Distribution |
CT; DC; DE; GA; MD; NC; NJ; NY; PA; SC; VA
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AL; AR; CA; CT; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; WY; ON; QC; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in Eurasia]
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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.) |
Euphorbia nutans is probably native to at least central and eastern North America, but given its strongly weedy tendencies, it is difficult to know where it may be adventive in parts of the flora area. It is certainly introduced where it occurs in the Old World and probably in South America as well. D. G. Burch (1966) discussed the problems of assigning names to the four main entities in this nomenclatural complex (E. hypericifolia, E. hyssopifolia, E. lasiocarpa, and E. nutans) and determined that the oldest valid name for the relatively robust, temperate North American plants with ascending stems is E. nutans. See the treatment of 56. E. maculata for a discussion of the misapplication of that name to E. nutans. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 247. | FNA vol. 12, p. 278. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. arundelana, Tithymalopsis ipecacuanhae | Chamaesyce lansingii, C. nutans, E. lansingii, E. preslii |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 455. (1753) | Lagasca: Gen. Sp. Pl., 17. (1816) |
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