Euphorbia myrsinites |
Euphorbia vallis-mortae |
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broad leaf glaucous spurge, donkey tail, myrtle or creeping or blue spurge, myrtle spurge |
Death Valley sandmat |
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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. |
prostrate to ascending, often mat-forming, 10–45 cm, pilose to villous. |
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 distinct or connate, subulate to filiform, 0.4–1.1 mm, densely tomentose; petiole 0.4–1 mm, pilose to villous; blade suborbiculate to oblong-ovate, 3–8 × 2–6 mm, base slightly asymmetric, rounded, margins entire, apex rounded to obtuse, surfaces pilose to villous; 3-veined at base, midvein conspicuous, venation often obscured by pubescence. |
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. |
obconic-campanulate, 1.2–2.3 × 1–1.8 mm, densely pilose to villous; glands 4, yellow to red, subcircular to oblong, 0.2–0.5 × 0.4–0.9 mm; appendages white, flabellate to oblong, 0.1–0.7 × 0.5–1.9 mm, distal margin entire or crenulate, adaxial surface ciliate-puberulent. |
Staminate flowers | 6–12. |
15–22(–50). |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 2.5–2.8 mm, usually unbranched. |
ovary densely pilose; styles 0.4–0.8 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
Capsules | subglobose, 5–7 × 5–6 mm, unlobed; cocci rounded to subangular, smooth, glabrous; columella 4.5–5 mm. |
ovoid, 1.5–2.2 × 1.8–2.2 mm, tomentose; columella 1.2–1.6 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. |
white, gray, or light brown, ovoid, sharply 4-angled in cross section, abaxial faces slightly convex, adaxial faces concave, 1.2–1.7 × 0.6–0.9 mm, smooth. |
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. |
solitary at distal nodes; peduncle 0.5–1.8 mm. |
Euphorbia myrsinites |
Euphorbia vallis-mortae |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–summer. | Flowering and fruiting late spring–fall. |
Habitat | Scrub oak communities, open ground near forests, shrub-steppes. | Roadsides, desert scrub, streamsides, sandy washes. |
Elevation | 0–2400 m. (0–7900 ft.) | 700–2000 m. (2300–6600 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; OR; UT; WA; WY; BC; s Europe; w Asia [Introduced in North America]
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CA |
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.) |
The specific epithet of Euphorbia vallis-mortae is a misnomer because the species does not occur in Death Valley; instead, it is found at the transition of the northern edge of the Mojave Desert and the foothills of the southern Sierra Nevada in Inyo, Kern, and San Bernardino counties. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 305. | FNA vol. 12, p. 291. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Tithymalus myrsinites | Chamaesyce vallis-mortae |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 461. (1753) | (Millspaugh) J. T. Howell: Madroño 2: 19. (1931) |
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