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Mercury spurge

Habit Herbs, perennial, with thickened, spreading rootstock.
Stems

erect, unbranched or branched, solitary or few, previous year's dead stems not persistent, 20–33 cm, glabrous or villous to lanate.

Leaves

alternate;

stipules 0.1–0.2 mm;

petiole (1–)2.5–5(–6) mm, ciliate to lanate;

blade elliptic to ovate-deltate, proximal greatly reduced, scalelike, 34–55 × 20–26 mm, base rounded or cuneate, margins entire, densely ciliate, apex rounded to acute, abaxial surface sparsely pilose to villous (to lanate on midrib), adaxial surface glabrous;

venation obscure, only midvein conspicuous.

Involucre

campanulate or hemispheric, 1.5–2.5 × 2–3 mm, glabrous;

glands 5, green, elliptic-reniform, 0.5 × 2 mm;

appendages white, narrowly transversely-oblong to lunate, 0.6 × 2.5 mm, slightly erose.

Staminate flowers

10–15.

Pistillate flowers

ovary glabrous;

styles 0.7–1.5 mm, 2-fid at apex.

Capsules

depressed-globose, 2.3–3.3 × 4.4–5 mm, glabrous;

columella 2.7–3 mm.

Seeds

tan to dark brown, ovoid, 2.2 × 1.6 mm, with shallow and coarse depressions;

caruncle absent.

Cyathia

usually in terminal pleiochasia, rarely dichasia;

peduncle 1.3–2.7 mm (to 40–70 mm for central cyathium), filiform, glabrous.

Euphorbia mercurialina

Phenology Flowering and fruiting spring.
Habitat Dry to mesic wooded slopes and ravines.
Elevation 100–600 m. (300–2000 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; GA; KY; NC; TN
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Euphorbia mercurialina is restricted primarily to the Cumberland Plateau and southern Appalachians, with disjunct occurrences in south-central North Carolina in the lower Piedmont. The North Carolina plants are markedly hairier than plants elsewhere, with villous or lanate stems, petioles, and abaxial leaf midribs. Euphorbia mercurialina has been reported from Florida and Virginia in the past. The Virginia plants were apparently planted (A. S. Weakley 2010), and the Florida reports are most certainly in error.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 12, p. 249.
Parent taxa Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum
Sibling taxa
E. aaron-rossii, E. abramsiana, E. acuta, E. agraria, E. albomarginata, E. alta, E. angusta, E. antisyphilitica, E. arizonica, E. astyla, E. austrotexana, E. bicolor, E. bifurcata, E. bilobata, E. blodgettii, E. bombensis, E. brachycera, E. capitellata, E. carunculata, E. chaetocalyx, E. chamaesula, E. cinerascens, E. commutata, E. conferta, E. cordifolia, E. corollata, E. crenulata, E. cumulicola, E. cuphosperma, E. curtisii, E. cyathophora, E. cyparissias, E. davidii, E. deltoidea, E. dendroides, E. dentata, E. discoidalis, E. eriantha, E. exigua, E. exserta, E. exstipulata, E. falcata, E. fendleri, E. florida, E. floridana, E. garberi, E. georgiana, E. geyeri, E. glyptosperma, E. golondrina, E. gracillima, E. graminea, E. helioscopia, E. helleri, E. heterophylla, E. hexagona, E. hirta, E. hooveri, E. humistrata, E. hypericifolia, E. hyssopifolia, E. indivisa, E. innocua, E. inundata, E. ipecacuanhae, E. jaegeri, E. jejuna, E. laredana, E. lasiocarpa, E. lata, E. lathyris, E. longicruris, E. lurida, E. macropus, E. maculata, E. marginata, E. meganaesos, E. melanadenia, E. mendezii, E. mesembrianthemifolia, E. micromera, E. misera, E. missurica, E. myrsinites, E. nephradenia, E. nutans, E. oblongata, E. ocellata, E. ophthalmica, E. ouachitana, E. parishii, E. parryi, E. pediculifera, E. peplidion, E. peplus, E. perennans, E. pergamena, E. pinetorum, E. platyphyllos, E. platysperma, E. polycarpa, E. polygonifolia, E. polyphylla, E. porteriana, E. prostrata, E. pubentissima, E. purpurea, E. radians, E. rayturneri, E. revoluta, E. roemeriana, E. rosescens, E. schizoloba, E. serpens, E. serpillifolia, E. serrata, E. serrula, E. setiloba, E. simulans, E. spathulata, E. stictospora, E. strictior, E. telephioides, E. terracina, E. tetrapora, E. texana, E. theriaca, E. thymifolia, E. tithymaloides, E. trachysperma, E. trichotoma, E. vallis-mortae, E. velleriflora, E. vermiculata, E. villifera, E. virgata, E. wrightii, E. yaquiana
Synonyms Tithymalopsis mercurialina
Name authority Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 212. (1803)
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