Euphorbia marginata |
Euphorbia hooveri |
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euphorbe marginée, mountain snow spurge, smoke-on-the-prairie, snow-on-the-mountain, variegated spurge, whitemargined spurge |
Hoover's sandmat, Hoover's spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, annual, with taproot. | Herbs, annual, with slender to slightly thickened taproot. |
Stems | erect, unbranched or branched, 30–85(–150) cm, pilose or glabrous. |
prostrate, occasionally mat-forming, 4–10 cm, glabrous. |
Leaves | alternate; stipules 0.1–0.3 mm; petiole 0.2–3 mm, glabrous or minutely pilose; blade broadly ovate to elliptic, 32–62(–82) × 18–28(–52) mm, base rounded to cuneate, margins entire, often white on distal leaves, apex acute, rarely mucronate, surfaces glabrous; venation obscure, only midvein conspicuous. |
opposite; stipules distinct or connate at base, deeply laciniate into numerous subulate to filiform segments, 0.3–1.3 mm, glabrous; petiole 0–0.5 mm, glabrous; blade broadly ovate, broadly oblong or suborbiculate, 3–7 × 2–5.5 mm, base asymmetric, hemiamplexicaulous, margin sharply serrulate to denticulate, teeth whitish and occasionally setaelike at apex, apex obtuse, surfaces papillate, glabrous; 3-veined from base, usually only midvein conspicuous. |
Involucre | campanulate, 2.2–3.5 × 1.3–2.3 mm, margin between glands deeply divided into fringe of fimbriate lobes, pilose; glands 4–5, green to greenish yellow, reniform to subcircular, 0.7–1.1 × 1–1.6 mm; appendages white, orbiculate, 1.5–2.7 × 1.9–2.9(–3.6) mm, entire. |
campanulate, 1.2–1.5 × 1.5–2.2 mm, papillate; glands 4, yellow to reddish, subcircular to oblong, 0.4–0.5 × 0.5–0.7 mm; appendages white to pink, 0.3–0.9 × 0.7–1.6 mm, divided into 4–6 narrowly triangular, acute segments, these occasionally 2-fid, margins entire. |
Staminate flowers | 30–70. |
25–35. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary pilose; styles 1–2.5 mm, 2-fid 1/2–2/3 length. |
ovary glabrous; styles 1.8–2.6 mm, unbranched, filiform. |
Capsules | oblate, 3–5 × 3.5–7.5 mm, moderately to densely pilose; columella 3–4.1 mm. |
oblate, 1.5–1.7 × 1.8–2.2 mm, glabrous; columella 1.2–1.4 mm. |
Seeds | orange-tan to gray, ovoid, 3.7–3.9 × 3–3.3 mm, rugose, with 2 transverse ridges (one dark orange to brown, other inconspicuous); caruncle absent. |
gray to light brown, ovoid, inconspicuously 4-angled in cross section, 1.2–1.6 × 1–1.1 mm, rugose. |
Cyathia | in terminal pleiochasia, dichasial bracts narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate with conspicuous white margins; peduncle 1.8–2.7(–22) mm, densely pilose. |
solitary at distal nodes; peduncle 0.5 mm, stout. |
2n | = 56. |
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Euphorbia marginata |
Euphorbia hooveri |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting summer–fall. | Flowering and fruiting summer–fall. |
Habitat | Disturbed areas and grasslands. | Drying mudflats of vernal pools in grasslands and woodlands. |
Elevation | 0–1700 m. (0–5600 ft.) | 20–200 m. (100–700 ft.) |
Distribution |
AR; CA; CO; CT; IA; IL; IN; KS; LA; MA; MD; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; NE; NH; NM; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; WI; WV; WY; MB; ON; QC; SK; c Mexico; s Mexico
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CA |
Discussion | Euphorbia marginata is native to the central United States. The type specimen was collected by Meriwether Lewis along the Yellowstone River in southern Montana in 1806, and it has been reported to be native as far south as Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, and as far east as southern Minnesota, western Iowa, and Missouri (G. Yatskievych 1999–2013, vol. 2). It is presumably naturalized outside of this area. Euphorbia marginata is widely cultivated as an ornamental for its showy, white-margined distal leaves, and it can escape locally. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Euphorbia hooveri is federally listed as threatened; its populations are being affected severely by habitat loss and the invasion of exotic species. The species is endemic to vernal pools in six counties in the Central Valley of California. Molecular data show that E. hooveri is a hybrid species, closely related to E. albomarginata and E. serpens (Y. Yang and P. E. Berry 2011). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 248. | FNA vol. 12, p. 271. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. bonplandii, Lepadena marginata | Chamaesyce hooveri |
Name authority | Pursh: Fl. Amer. Sept. 2: 607. (1813) | L. C. Wheeler: Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 53: 9. (1940) |
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