Euphorbia ipecacuanhae |
Euphorbia ocellata |
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American ipecac, Carolina ipecac, ipecac spurge |
Contura Creek sandmat, Contura Creek spurge, valley 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. |
prostrate, 10–35 cm, glabrous or pilose. |
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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 distinct, subulate, 0.5–1.6 mm, glabrous or pilose; petiole 0.3–2 mm, glabrous or pilose; blade ovate to deltate or falcate, 2.3–13 × 1.5–6 mm, base asymmetric, usually cordate, rarely rounded, margins occasionally reddish, entire, often revolute, apex acute to obtuse, occasionally mucronate, surfaces glabrous or pilose; midvein conspicuous, lateral veins frequently visible abaxially. |
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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, 1–2.5 × 1.3–2.4 mm, glabrous or pilose; glands 4, yellow becoming deep red, elliptic or oblong to orbiculate, 0.4–0.6 × 0.5–0.7 mm; appendages absent or whitish, orbiculate, 0.1–0.2 × 0.3–0.5 mm, distal margin entire. |
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Staminate flowers | 10–20. |
30–70. |
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Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.4–0.8 mm, 2-fid at apex. |
ovary glabrous or pilose; styles 0.4–0.5 mm, 2-fid at apex. |
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Capsules | globose, 2.3–3.4 × 3.5–4.2 mm, glabrous; columella 3–3.1 mm. |
subglobose to broadly ovoid, 1.4–2.7 × 1.9–3.1 mm, glabrous or pilose; columella 1.4–2 mm. |
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Seeds | white or brown, ovoid, 2.3–2.5 × 1.5 mm, angular, with 5 longitudinal ridges, shallowly and irregularly pitted; caruncle absent. |
whitish gray to black, ovoid to oblong, terete to bluntly subangled in cross section, 1.1–1.7 × 0.8–1.3 mm, rugose or smooth. |
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Cyathia | usually in terminal dichasia, sometimes pleiochasia; peduncle 10–50(–70) mm, glabrous. |
solitary at distal nodes; peduncle 0.9–2.2 mm. |
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Euphorbia ipecacuanhae |
Euphorbia ocellata |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting early spring–early summer. | |||||
Habitat | Pine and pine-oak savannas, pine-oak sand hills, turkey oak scrub, open sand habitats. | |||||
Elevation | 0–150 m. (0–500 ft.) | |||||
Distribution |
CT; DC; DE; GA; MD; NC; NJ; NY; PA; SC; VA
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AZ; CA; ID; NV; UT
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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.) |
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 247. | FNA vol. 12, p. 279. | ||||
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | E. arundelana, Tithymalopsis ipecacuanhae | Chamaesyce ocellata | ||||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 455. (1753) | Durand & Hilgard: Pl. Heermann., 46. (1854) | ||||
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