Euphorbia lathyris |
Euphorbia bifurcata |
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caper spurge, euphorbe épurge, gopher plant, gopher spurge, mole plant |
fork spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, annual or biennial, with taproot. | Herbs, annual, with slender, fibrous taproot. |
Stems | erect, unbranched or branched, 200 cm, glabrous, glaucous. |
erect, 20–70 cm, glabrous or with few scattered spreading hairs; branches arcuate, branching appearing dichotomous. |
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. |
usually alternate, occasionally opposite at proximalmost node; petiole 15–49 mm, glabrous; blade usually ovate, rarely oblong or elliptic, 13–54 × 7–38 mm, base usually rounded to broadly cuneate, rarely truncate, margins finely serrulate, apex obtuse, surfaces glabrous or with few scattered hairs; venation pinnate, midvein prominent. |
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. |
tubular or obconic, 1–1.7 × 0.7–1.4 mm, glabrous except for few hairs on lobes; involucral lobes divided into several linear, smooth lobes; glands 1(–3), greenish, sessile and broadly attached, 0.3–0.4 × 0.4–0.8 mm, opening oblong to subcircular, glabrous; appendages petaloid, white, elliptic, oblong, transversely oblong, or forming thin, lunate rim on gland margin, not incurved and covering glands, 0.3–0.9 × 0.6–1.3 mm, entire, undulate or slightly lobed, glabrous. |
Staminate flowers | 25–30. |
20–30. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.7–2.2 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.6–1 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. |
oblate, 2.8–3.1 × 3.6–4.5 mm, glabrous; columella 1.9–2.4 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. |
brown to blackish, ovoid, rounded in cross section, 1.9–2.4 × 1.5–1.8 mm, irregularly and coarsely tuberculate; caruncle absent or rudimentary. |
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. |
arrangement: terminal dichasial branches 2, few-branched (weakly defined); pleiochasial bracts 2–3, opposite or whorled, wholly green, similar in shape and size to distal leaves; dichasial bracts smaller than distal leaves, often white at base. |
Cyathia | peduncle 0–0.5 mm. |
peduncle 0.9–3.5(–6.2) mm. |
Euphorbia lathyris |
Euphorbia bifurcata |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting winter–fall. | Flowering and fruiting summer–fall. |
Habitat | Roadsides, cultivated fields, stream banks, waste places. | Riparian areas with cottonwoods and willows, pinyon pine woodlands, pine-oak forests, Douglas fir forests with pines. |
Elevation | 0–1800 m. (0–5900 ft.) | 1900–2300 m. (6200–7500 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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NM; TX; Mexico; Central America (Guatemala) |
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 bifurcata is found in the mountains of southern New Mexico (Doña Ana, Grant, Lincoln, Otero, and Sierra counties) and trans-Pecos Texas (Brewster, Jeff Davis, and Presidio counties). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 304. | FNA vol. 12, p. 319. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Poinsettia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Galarhoeus lathyris, Tithymalus lathyris | |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 457. (1753) — (as lathyrus) | Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 190. (1859) |
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