Euphorbia myrsinites |
Euphorbia theriaca |
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broad leaf glaucous spurge, donkey tail, myrtle or creeping or blue spurge, myrtle spurge |
Terlingua sandmat, Terlingua spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, usually perennial, occasionally biennial, with taproot. | Herbs, annual, with slender taproot. | ||||
Stems | erect or semiprostrate, unbranched or branched, 15–40 cm, succulent, glabrous. |
prostrate to reclining, not mat-forming, 5–30 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. |
opposite; stipules usually distinct, occasionally connate basally on lower side of stem, subulate or scalelike, usually entire, occasionally 2-fid or margin sparsely ciliate, 0.4–1 mm, glabrous; petiole 0.7–1.2(–1.5) mm, glabrous; blade ovate, oblong, orbiculate, or obovate, 2–7.1 × 1–3.5 mm, base slightly asymmetric, rounded, margins entire, often revolute on drying, apex usually rounded, occasionally slightly emarginate, surfaces glabrous; venation usually obscure, only midvein conspicuous. |
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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. |
usually turbinate-campanulate to hemispheric, occasionally suburceolate, 1–1.8 × 0.9–1.4 mm, glabrous; glands 4, yellow-green to red-purple, sessile or short-stipitate, subcircular to slightly elliptic, 0.2–0.5 × 0.2–0.7 mm; appendages absent or white to pink, semilunate or forming rim at edge of gland, (0–)0.1–0.4 × (0–)0.3–0.9 mm, entire or slightly crenate. |
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Staminate flowers | 6–12. |
15–36. |
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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 1/2 length. |
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Capsules | subglobose, 5–7 × 5–6 mm, unlobed; cocci rounded to subangular, smooth, glabrous; columella 4.5–5 mm. |
broadly ovoid, 1.1–1.6 × 1.5–1.8 mm, glabrous; columella 1.2–1.5 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. |
whitish, reddish brown beneath coat, ovate, 4-angled in cross section, 0.8–1.2 × 0.5–0.8 mm, with (2–)3(–5) deep transverse ridges. |
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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. |
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Cyathia | peduncle 0.5–1 mm. |
usually solitary at distal nodes, rarely clustered on short, axillary branches; peduncle 0.3–1.3 mm. |
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2n | = 28. |
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Euphorbia myrsinites |
Euphorbia theriaca |
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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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NM; TX; n Mexico
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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). (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. 290. | ||||
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Tithymalus myrsinites | Chamaesyce theriaca | ||||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 461. (1753) | L. C. Wheeler: Rhodora 43: 242, plate 660, fig. A. (1941) | ||||
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