Euphorbia lathyris |
Euphorbia rayturneri |
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caper spurge, euphorbe épurge, gopher plant, gopher spurge, mole plant |
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Habit | Herbs, annual or biennial, with taproot. | Herbs, annual, with slender taproot. |
Stems | erect, unbranched or branched, 200 cm, glabrous, glaucous. |
prostrate, 4–8 cm, uniformly strigillose. |
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 distinct, filiform, 0.6–0.9 mm, pilose; petiole 0.5–0.9 mm, strigillose; blade ovate to elliptic, often slightly falcate, 5–11 × 2–5 mm, base asymmetric, one side cordate, other round to attenuate, margins sharply serrulate, apex acute, surfaces often with red spot toward middle, abaxial surface strigillose, adaxial surface glabrescent; only midvein 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, 0.9–1.2 × 0.8–1.2 mm, strigillose; glands 4, green, yellow, or light pink, circular to oblong, 0.2 × 0.2–0.3 mm; appendages absent or green, yellow, or light pink, forming narrow margin on distal portion of gland, 0–0.1 × 0.2–0.3 mm, distal margin entire. |
Staminate flowers | 25–30. |
5–8. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.7–2.2 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary strigillose-canescent; styles 0.3–0.4 mm, unbranched. |
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, 1.7–2 × 2.2–2.7 mm, strigillose; columella 1.5–1.9 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. |
blackish brown, broadly ovoid, 3-angled in cross section, 1.2–1.4 × 1–1.1 mm, with 2 well-defined transverse ridges that do not pass through abaxial keel. |
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 at distal nodes; peduncle 0.5–1.6 mm. |
2n | = 14. |
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Euphorbia lathyris |
Euphorbia rayturneri |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting winter–fall. | Flowering and fruiting late summer–early fall. |
Habitat | Roadsides, cultivated fields, stream banks, waste places. | Desert grasslands. |
Elevation | 0–1800 m. (0–5900 ft.) | 1400–1700 m. (4600–5600 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 |
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 rayturneri is known from only three collections in extreme southwestern New Mexico. Given its close proximity to the Mexican border, the species may also occur in the adjacent states of Chihuahua or Sonora. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 304. | FNA vol. 12, p. 286. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Galarhoeus lathyris, Tithymalus lathyris | |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 457. (1753) — (as lathyrus) | V. W. Steinmann & Jercinovic: Novon 22: 482, figs. 1, 2. (2013) |
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