Euphorbia myrsinites |
Euphorbia austrotexana |
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broad leaf glaucous spurge, donkey tail, myrtle or creeping or blue spurge, myrtle spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, usually perennial, occasionally biennial, with taproot. | Herbs, annual, with taproot. | ||||
Stems | erect or semiprostrate, unbranched or branched, 15–40 cm, succulent, glabrous. |
erect, usually branched near base, 6–22 cm, glabrous. |
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Leaves | petiole 0–2 mm; blade obovate, obovate-oblong, lanceolate, orbiculate, or suborbiculate, 2–30 × 3–17 mm, fleshy, base truncate or attenuate, margins entire or finely denticulate, apex acute to obtuse, cuspidate or strongly mucronate, surfaces glabrous; venation and midvein inconspicuous. |
petiole absent; blade linear to slightly lanceolate or linear-oblanceolate, 5–18 × 0.5–2.5 mm, base linear attenuate, margins entire, apex rounded to obtuse or acute, surfaces glabrous; venation pinnate, midvein prominent. |
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Involucre | campanulate, 2.4–2.6 × 2.3–2.5 mm, glabrous; glands 4, trapezoidal, 1–1.5 × 1.5–2.5 mm; horns divergent, thick, tips rounded, dilated, 0.5–0.9 mm. |
infundibular, 0.8–1.1 × 0.6–0.9 mm, glabrous; glands 4, crescent-shaped; 0.2–0.4 × 0.5–0.6 mm; horns divergent, 0.5–0.7 mm. |
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Staminate flowers | 6–12. |
5–10. |
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Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 2.5–2.8 mm, usually unbranched. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.3–0.5 mm, 2-fid. |
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Capsules | subglobose, 5–7 × 5–6 mm, unlobed; cocci rounded to subangular, smooth, glabrous; columella 4.5–5 mm. |
ovoid-globose, 1.8–2.2 × 3–3.2 mm, slightly 3-lobed; cocci rounded, smooth, glabrous; columella 1.5–2 mm. |
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Seeds | brownish to grayish, oblong, 2.8–4.5 × 2–3.2 mm, vermiculate-rugose; caruncle substipitate, trapezoidal or mushroom-shaped, 1.3–1.5 × 0.6–0.8 mm. |
white to gray, ellipsoid, 1.4–1.7 × 1–1.3 mm, with deep, irregular to rounded, shallow to concave depressions over entire surface; caruncle reniform-ovate, depressed-conic, 0.5–0.7 × 0.7–1 mm. |
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Cyathial | arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 2–12, each 1–2 times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts similar in shape and size to distal leaves; dichasial bracts distinct, suborbiculate or reniform, base truncate, margins entire or minutely denticulate, apex obtuse, mucronulate; axillary cymose branches 0–4. |
arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 3, 1–3 times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts similar in shape to but slightly shorter and wider than distal leaves; dichasial bracts distinct, not imbricate, reniform-ovate to subdeltate-ovate or broadly ovate-lanceolate, base obliquely truncate to rounded, margins entire, apex obtuse to broadly acuminate; axillary cymose branches 0–3. |
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Cyathia | peduncle 0.5–1 mm. |
peduncle 0–0.5 mm. |
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Euphorbia myrsinites |
Euphorbia austrotexana |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–summer. | |||||
Habitat | Scrub oak communities, open ground near forests, shrub-steppes. | |||||
Elevation | 0–2400 m. (0–7900 ft.) | |||||
Distribution |
CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; OR; UT; WA; WY; BC; s Europe; w Asia [Introduced in North America]
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TX |
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Discussion | Euphorbia myrsinites is cultivated in much of the flora area, where it can tolerate cold winters. In some areas, it can locally escape from cultivation. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). Euphorbia austrotexana occurs in stabilized sandy soil in the south Texas plains (M. H. Mayfield 2013). It is similar to E. longicruris but differs from that species in its often narrowly oblanceolate to linear leaves and its white to gray, ellipsoid seeds that are covered with minute, concave depressions. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 305. | FNA vol. 12, p. 298. | ||||
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Tithymalus myrsinites | |||||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 461. (1753) | Mayfield: J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 7: 634, figs. 1, 2[row 3, left & center]. (2013) | ||||
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