Euphorbia myrsinites |
Euphorbia pinetorum |
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broad leaf glaucous spurge, donkey tail, myrtle or creeping or blue spurge, myrtle spurge |
pineland spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, usually perennial, occasionally biennial, with taproot. | Herbs, perennial, with thickened, woody taproot. |
Stems | erect or semiprostrate, unbranched or branched, 15–40 cm, succulent, glabrous. |
erect, 30–100 cm, glabrous; branches ± straight. |
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. |
usually alternate, occasionally opposite proximally; petiole 0–1.5 mm, glabrous; blade narrowly lanceolate to linear, base long-attenuate, 30–120 × 2.5–5 mm, margins usually entire, occasionally with few inconspicuous teeth, revolute, apex narrowly acute, surfaces glabrous; venation obscurely pinnate, midvein prominent. |
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. |
campanulate, 1.5–1.9 × 1.4–1.7 mm, glabrous; involucral lobes divided into broad, triangular segments; glands 3(–5), red to purple, sessile and broadly attached, 0.8–1.1 × 1.2–1.6 mm, opening oblong (flattened without pressing), without annular rim, glabrous; appendages absent. |
Staminate flowers | 6–12. |
8–12. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 2.5–2.8 mm, usually unbranched. |
ovary glabrous; styles 1.5 mm, 2-fid nearly entire length. |
Capsules | subglobose, 5–7 × 5–6 mm, unlobed; cocci rounded to subangular, smooth, glabrous; columella 4.5–5 mm. |
purpurescent, depressed-globose, 2.8–3.2 × 3.6–4 mm, 3-lobed, glabrous; columella 2.6–2.9 mm. |
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. |
dark brown, cylindric-ovoid to ovoid, rounded in cross section, 2.1–2.4 × 2 mm, uniformly low-tuberculate, tubercles in median, transverse ridge; caruncle absent. |
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 monochasial or dichasial branches 1–2, unbranched; pleiochasial bracts 2–3, often whorled, wholly purpurescent green or pink at base, similar in shape and size to distal leaves or slightly narrower; dichasial bracts highly reduced. |
Cyathia | peduncle 0.5–1 mm. |
peduncle 1.5–3 mm. |
Euphorbia myrsinites |
Euphorbia pinetorum |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–summer. | Flowering and fruiting year-round. |
Habitat | Scrub oak communities, open ground near forests, shrub-steppes. | Sandy soils in pinelands. |
Elevation | 0–2400 m. (0–7900 ft.) | 0–10 m. (0–0 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; OR; UT; WA; WY; BC; s Europe; w Asia [Introduced in North America]
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FL |
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.) |
Euphorbia pinetorum has a restricted distribution in southern peninsular Florida, primarily in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. The species is very similar to narrow-leaved forms of the closely related E. cyathophora but differs in its perennial habit, consistently unlobed leaves, and purpurescent involucral glands and cyathia. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 305. | FNA vol. 12, p. 323. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Poinsettia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Tithymalus myrsinites | Poinsettia pinetorum |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 461. (1753) | (Small) G. L. Webster: J. Arnold Arbor. 48: 403. (1967) |
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