Euphorbia lathyris |
Euphorbia macropus |
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caper spurge, euphorbe épurge, gopher plant, gopher spurge, mole plant |
Huachuca Mountain spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, annual or biennial, with taproot. | Herbs, perennial, with thick, globose to elongated tubers, 2–8 cm. |
Stems | erect, unbranched or branched, 200 cm, glabrous, glaucous. |
erect to ascending, branched, 10–45(–60) cm, glabrous, puberulent, or densely hirsute to setose, often with 2-layered indumentum of long hairs intermixed with short hairs. |
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 opposite, occasionally whorled distally, or rarely with 1–2 alternate leaves; stipules 0.1–0.2 mm; petiole 0–18 mm, hirsute, sericeous, or strigose; blade linear to ovate or almost orbiculate, 6–54 × 2–19 mm, base rounded to attenuate, margins entire, occasionally ciliate with stiff recurved hairs, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces usually hirsute, sericeous, or strigose, occasionally glabrous adaxially; venation conspicuous. |
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. |
obconic to campanulate, 1.1–1.4 × 0.5–1.5 mm, glabrous or strigillose; glands 4–5, greenish, oblong, 0.2 × 0.4–0.5 mm; appendages usually yellowish or green, rarely dark purple, ovate, flabellate, semiorbiculate, or oblong, 0.3–0.9 × 0.4–1.1 mm, usually entire. |
Staminate flowers | 25–30. |
10–15. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.7–2.2 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary glabrous, sericeous, or strigillose; styles 0.4–0.6 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, 2.3–3 × 3.1–4.2 mm, glabrous, sericeous, or strigillose; columella 1.6–2.1 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. |
black to light brown, broadly ovoid to subglobose, rounded in cross section, 1.5–2.3 × 1.4–1.8 mm, smooth or with low rounded tubercles; caruncle absent. |
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. |
in weakly-defined terminal dichasia; peduncle 1.4–5.8 mm, glabrous. |
Euphorbia lathyris |
Euphorbia macropus |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting winter–fall. | Flowering and fruiting summer–fall. |
Habitat | Roadsides, cultivated fields, stream banks, waste places. | Stream banks and rocky slopes in pine-oak woodlands, sometimes with juniper, Douglas fir-pine forests. |
Elevation | 0–1800 m. (0–5900 ft.) | 1500–2200m. (4900–7200ft.) |
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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AZ; Mexico; Central America (Guatemala, Honduras) |
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 macropus is a widespread and common Mexican species just barely entering the flora area in southeastern Arizona, where most of the collections are from the Huachuca Mountains. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 304. | FNA vol. 12, p. 248. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Galarhoeus lathyris, Tithymalus lathyris | Anisophyllum macropus, E. biformis, E. plummerae |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 457. (1753) — (as lathyrus) | (Klotzsch & Garcke) Boissier: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 15(2): 52. (1862) |
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