Euphorbia oblongata |
Euphorbia cuphosperma |
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Balkan spurge, egg-leaf spurge, oblong spurge |
hairy-fruit spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, with woody taproot. | Herbs, annual, with taproot. |
Stems | erect, unbranched or densely branching, 80 cm, often densely villous (especially young stems and pleiochasial branches). |
erect, 13–20 cm, both pilose to villous and densely strigillose; branches ± straight. |
Leaves | petiole absent; blade oblong to narrowly obovate or lanceolate, 15–70 × 6–25 mm, base rounded or truncate, margins finely serrulate, apex obtuse, mucronulate, surfaces glabrous; venation inconspicuously pinnate, midvein prominent. |
usually opposite, occasionally alternate at distal nodes; petiole 3–15 mm, pilose; blade narrowly to broadly elliptic, or lanceolate to ovate, 30–80 × 10–15 mm, base cuneate to rounded, margins coarsely crenate-dentate, strigose, revolute to nearly flat, apex broadly acute to acuminate, or obtuse, abaxial surface pilose, adaxial surface sparsely strigose-hirsute; venation pinnate, midvein prominent. |
Involucre | cupulate to slightly turbinate, 1.5–2.5 × 1.3–1.5 mm, glabrous; glands 2–3, elliptic, 0.6–0.8 × 0.8–1.2 mm; horns absent. |
campanulate to slightly cylindric, 2.3 × 1.2 mm, glabrous; involucral lobes divided into several linear, smooth lobes; gland 1, yellow-green, stipitate, clavate, 1–1.2 × 0.8–0.9 mm, opening bilabiate and oblong, glabrous; appendages absent. |
Staminate flowers | 15–40. |
3–5. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 1.5–2 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary pilose; styles 1.2 mm, 2-fid nearly entire length. |
Capsules | globose, 3–4.5 × 3–4.5 mm, slightly 3-lobed; cocci rounded, verrucose-tuberculate, glabrous; columella 2.5–3.3 mm. |
broadly ovoid, 2.2–3 × 1.9–2.7 mm, 3-lobed, pilose; columella 2–2.4 mm. |
Seeds | brown, ovoid, 2.4–2.6 × 1.3–2 mm, smooth, caruncle reniform, 0.2–0.3 × 0.8–0.9 mm. |
gray-brown to pale gray, pyramidally ovoid, angular in cross section, 2.3–2.6 × 2.4–2.6 mm, coarsely tuberculate, tubercles in 2 transverse rows; caruncle 0.2–0.4 mm. |
Cyathial | arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 3–5, each 2–3 times 2–4-branched; pleiochasial bracts ovate, similar in size to distal leaves; dichasial bracts distinct, ovate to suborbiculate, base truncate or rounded, margins entire or finely denticulate, apex obtuse, sometimes mucronulate; axillary cymose branches 0–4. |
arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches usually 3, occasionally reduced to congested cyme, 1–2-branched; pleiochasial bracts 2–4, often whorled, wholly green or paler green at base, similar in shape and size to distal leaves or slightly narrower; dichasial bracts highly reduced. |
Cyathia | peduncle 1–5 mm. |
peduncle 0.5–0.8 mm. |
2n | = 56. |
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Euphorbia oblongata |
Euphorbia cuphosperma |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. | Flowering and fruiting summer–fall. |
Habitat | Waste areas, disturbed sites, roadsides, fields, pastures. | Open montane and canyon forests, pinyon-juniper forests, montane grasslands, stream beds, disturbed habitats. |
Elevation | 30–900 m. (100–3000 ft.) | 800–2000 m. (2600–6600 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; OR; WA; s Europe [Introduced in North America]
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AZ; NM; Mexico; Central America (Guatemala)
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Discussion | Euphorbia oblongata is listed as a noxious weed by the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 305. | FNA vol. 12, p. 319. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Poinsettia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Tithymalus oblongatus | E. dentata var. cuphosperma, Poinsettia cuphosperma |
Name authority | Grisebach: Spic. Fl. Rumel. 1: 136. (1843) | (Engelmann) Boissier: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 15(2): 73. (1862) |
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