Euphorbia oblongata |
Euphorbia dendroides |
|
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Balkan spurge, egg-leaf spurge, oblong spurge |
tree spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, with woody taproot. | Shrubs, dendroid, with large rootstock. |
Stems | erect, unbranched or densely branching, 80 cm, often densely villous (especially young stems and pleiochasial branches). |
erect, stout, densely branched, to 200 cm, glabrous, bark usually reddish and glossy toward tip of branches. |
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. |
petiole absent; blade linear-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 20–65 × 3–8 mm, base attenuate, margins entire, apex obtuse to acute, sometimes mucronulate, surfaces glabrous; venation pinnate, midvein prominent, base attenuate. |
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. |
broadly turbinate to hemispheric, 3–4 × 3.5–3.8 mm, glabrous; glands 4, suborbiculate to subtrapezoidal, 1–1.5 × 1.2–1.8 mm, sometimes irregularly lobed; horns absent. |
Staminate flowers | 15–40. |
20–25. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 1.5–2 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary glabrous; styles 2.4–3 mm, 2-fid. |
Capsules | globose, 3–4.5 × 3–4.5 mm, slightly 3-lobed; cocci rounded, verrucose-tuberculate, glabrous; columella 2.5–3.3 mm. |
subglobose, 4–5.5 × 4–6.5 mm, deeply lobed; cocci laterally compressed, smooth, glabrous; columella 3–4 mm. |
Seeds | brown, ovoid, 2.4–2.6 × 1.3–2 mm, smooth, caruncle reniform, 0.2–0.3 × 0.8–0.9 mm. |
grayish or blackish, ovoid and strongly laterally compressed, 3–3.5 × 1.5–2 mm, smooth; caruncle semirounded and laterally compressed, 1.2–1.4 × 0.8–1.8 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 4–8, unbranched or 1–2-times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts similar in shape to but usually shorter and wider than distal leaves; dichasial bracts distinct, yellowish, broadly ovate, orbiculate, rhombic, or reniform, base obtuse, margins entire, apex obtuse, sometimes mucronulate; axillary pleiochasial absent. |
Cyathia | peduncle 1–5 mm. |
peduncle absent. |
Euphorbia oblongata |
Euphorbia dendroides |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. | Flowering and fruiting fall–spring. |
Habitat | Waste areas, disturbed sites, roadsides, fields, pastures. | Coastal plains and basins, hillsides. |
Elevation | 30–900 m. (100–3000 ft.) | 0–500 m. (0–1600 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; OR; WA; s Europe [Introduced in North America]
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CA; Europe; n Africa [Introduced in North America] |
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.) |
Euphorbia dendroides is native to the Mediterranean region. In the flora area, the species is known from Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 305. | FNA vol. 12, p. 302. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Tithymalus oblongatus | Tithymalus dendroides |
Name authority | Grisebach: Spic. Fl. Rumel. 1: 136. (1843) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 462. (1753) |
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