Euphorbia lathyris |
Euphorbia missurica |
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caper spurge, euphorbe épurge, gopher plant, gopher spurge, mole plant |
Missouri spurge, prairie sandmat, prairie spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, annual or biennial, with taproot. | Herbs, annual, with taproot. |
Stems | erect, unbranched or branched, 200 cm, glabrous, glaucous. |
erect or ascending, 10–60(–100) cm, glabrous, sometimes ± glaucous. |
Leaves | opposite, decussate; petiole absent; blade linear to oblong-lanceolate, 30–120 × 3–25 mm, base acute, rounded, cordate or clasping, margins entire, apex acute or subobtuse, sometimes mucronate, surfaces glabrous, abaxial ± glaucous; venation pinnate, midvein prominent. |
opposite; stipules usually distinct, occasionally connate basally on one or both sides of stem, linear to triangular-subulate, usually deeply and irregularly fringed or lobed, rarely entire, 0.7–1.5 mm, glabrous; petiole 1–3 mm, glabrous; blade linear to narrowly oblong or narrowly lanceolate-oblong, (4–)8–30 × 3–7 mm, base symmetric or subsymmetric (usually narrower leaves), or slightly asymmetric and angled or short-tapered (wider leaves), margins entire, occasionally ± revolute, apex rounded to truncate, occasionally emarginate or mucronulate, abaxial surface pale green, adaxial surface light to bright green, both surfaces glabrous; venation obscure. |
Involucre | campanulate, 1.2–2.3 × 1.4–2.5 mm, glabrous; glands 4, elliptic, 0.3–0.6 × 1–1.3 mm; horns divergent, thick, tips rounded, dilated, 0.5–1.4 mm. |
broadly campanulate, 1.2–1.8 × 1.7–1.9 mm, glabrous; glands 4, yellowish green, broadly oblong to nearly circular, cupped or folded, 0.3–0.6 × 0.3–0.7 mm; appendages white or ± pinkish tinged, ovate to oblong-ovate, 0.4–2.5 × 1.1–1.7 mm, distal margin entire or slightly crenate or emarginate at tip. |
Staminate flowers | 25–30. |
24–60. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.7–2.2 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.5–1.4 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
Capsules | depressed-globose, 9–12 × 12–16 mm, deeply 3-lobed, tardily dehiscent and appearing indehiscent, mesocarp spongy; cocci rounded, smooth, glabrous; columella 4–5.2 mm. |
broadly ovoid-globose, 1.9–2.5 × 2–2.5(–3) mm, glabrous; columella 1.8–2.1 mm. |
Seeds | brownish or blackish, oblong, 4.5–6 × 3–4.2 mm, rugose, irregularly reticulate; caruncle substipitate, hat-shaped, 1.6–2 × 1.2–1.5 mm. |
mottled whitish to brown, ovoid to broadly ovoid-triangular, bluntly 3-angled in cross section, 1.5–2 × 1.1–1.4 mm, smooth or slightly wrinkled. |
Cyathial | arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 2–4, each 1–2 times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts cordate-lanceolate, shorter and wider than distal leaves; dichasial bracts distinct, ovate-oblong to lanceolate, base subcordate, margins entire, apex acute; axillary cymose branches 0–10. |
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Cyathia | peduncle 0–0.5 mm. |
solitary or in small, cymose clusters these occasionally subtended by reduced, bractlike leaves at distal nodes or on congested, axillary branches; peduncle 1–5(–11) mm. |
Euphorbia lathyris |
Euphorbia missurica |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting winter–fall. | Flowering and fruiting late spring–late summer. |
Habitat | Roadsides, cultivated fields, stream banks, waste places. | Glades, ledges, bluff tops (usually calcareous), dry upland forest margins, sandy or disturbed areas. |
Elevation | 0–1800 m. (0–5900 ft.) | 50–1500 m. (200–4900 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CT; ID; IL; MA; MD; MT; NC; OH; OR; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WA; WV; BC; ON; QC; Europe; Asia; Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico, South America, Australia]
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AR; CO; IA; KS; MO; MT; ND; NE; NM; OK; SD; TX; WY
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Discussion | Euphorbia lathyris is most likely native to the central and eastern Mediterranean region, but it is widely cultivated and often locally escaped in temperate regions worldwide, as in the flora area. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Euphorbia missurica is similar to the western E. parryi but has a more upright growth habit and more conspicuous involucral gland appendages. Native occurrences have been documented from Minnesota (last collected in Ottertail County in 1936), but it appears to have been extirpated from that state due to habitat loss to agriculture. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 304. | FNA vol. 12, p. 278. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Galarhoeus lathyris, Tithymalus lathyris | Chamaesyce missurica, E. missurica var. intermedia, E. petaloidea var. intermedia |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 457. (1753) — (as lathyrus) | Rafinesque: Atlantic J. 1: 146. (1832) |
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