Euphorbia lathyris |
Euphorbia velleriflora |
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caper spurge, euphorbe épurge, gopher plant, gopher spurge, mole plant |
Caliche sandmat |
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Habit | Herbs, annual or biennial, with taproot. | Herbs, perennial, with strongly thickened and lignified rootstock. |
Stems | erect, unbranched or branched, 200 cm, glabrous, glaucous. |
prostrate, usually mat-forming, terete to slightly flattened and winged, to 30 cm, villous to pilose. |
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 or connate at base, 2-fid to laciniate into 2–5 linear to subulate divisions, 0.5–1(–2) mm, glabrous or villous; petiole 0.5–2 mm, villous; blade usually ovate to oblong, rarely suborbiculate, 5–13 × 4–8 mm, base asymmetric, hemicordate, margins serrulate, apex obtuse, surfaces villous; 3-veined from base, usually 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. |
turbinate, 0.9–1.4 × 0.7–1.1 mm, villous; glands 4, pink, oblong to reniform, 0.1–0.2 × 0.3–0.4 mm; appendages white to pink, flabellate, ovate, or oblong, 0.3–0.5 × 0.4–0.7 mm, distal margin entire, crenulate, or erose, often puberulent-ciliate. |
Staminate flowers | 25–30. |
8–12. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.7–2.2 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary villous; styles 0.2–0.4(–0.5) 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, 1.5–1.9 × 1.3–1.7 mm, villous (uniformly so, but most pronounced toward base and along keels); columella 1.2–1.4 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. |
white to gray or pink, narrowly pyramidal-ovoid, 4-angled in cross section, 1.1–1.3 × 0.4–0.6 mm, rugulose with shallow depressions separated by inconspicuous transverse ridges. |
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 or at nodes of leafy, congested, axillary branches; peduncle 1–1.5(–2.5) mm. |
Euphorbia lathyris |
Euphorbia velleriflora |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting winter–fall. | Flowering and fruiting summer. |
Habitat | Roadsides, cultivated fields, stream banks, waste places. | Disturbed habitats, particularly roadsides, grasslands, live oak-thorn scrub. |
Elevation | 0–1800 m. (0–5900 ft.) | 50–80 m. (200–300 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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TX; Mexico; Central America (Guatemala) [Introduced in North America] |
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 velleriflora is native and widespread from northern Mexico to Guatemala. The species is apparently a recent introduction in southern Texas (W. R. Carr and M. H. Mayfield 1993), as the first records are from the 1990s. It is also expected in southern Arizona due to the presence of collections made a few kilometers south of the border in the Mexican state of Sonora. Euphorbia velleriflora is very similar to E. stictospora, and the two are sometimes confused. The two can be readily distinguished on the basis of their styles: unbranched in E. stictospora and 2-fid in E. velleriflora. Also, the involucral gland appendages of E. velleriflora are ciliate with short hairs, whereas those of E. stictospora are glabrous. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 304. | FNA vol. 12, p. 292. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Galarhoeus lathyris, Tithymalus lathyris | Anisophyllum velleriflorum, Chamaesyce velleriflora |
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): 40. (1862) |
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