Euphorbia oblongata |
Euphorbia graminea |
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Balkan spurge, egg-leaf spurge, oblong spurge |
grassleaf spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, with woody taproot. | Herbs, usually annual, rarely perennial, with slender, rarely tuberous, taproot. |
Stems | erect, unbranched or densely branching, 80 cm, often densely villous (especially young stems and pleiochasial branches). |
erect or ascending, branched, 30–80(–110) cm, strigillose or glabrescent, sharply angled. |
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 alternate, sometimes some opposite; stipules usually 0.2–0.5 mm, rarely rudimentary; petiole 0.4–5.9 mm, strigillose; blade ovate, elliptic, linear-elliptic, or oblong, 10–83 × 3–39 mm, base attenuate, rounded, or cuneate, margins entire, apex acute or obtuse, surfaces strigillose; venation occasionally obscure on narrow leaves, midvein conspicuous. |
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 or obconic, 1–1.8 × 0.8–1.7 mm, glabrous or strigillose toward rim; glands (1–)2–4, yellow to greenish, elliptic or oblong, 0.1–0.3 × 0.2–0.4 mm; appendages white to tinged purple, ovate and often hoodlike or forming narrow rim around distal margin of gland, 0.3–1.6 × 0.4–0.9 mm, entire. |
Staminate flowers | 15–40. |
30–40. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 1.5–2 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.7–1 mm, 2-fid from 1/2 to 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. |
ovoid-oblate, 2.5–3 × 3–3.5 mm, glabrous; columella 1.6–1.9 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, or nearly black, ovoid, circular or weakly angled in cross section, 1.5–1.7 × 1.3–1.5 mm, coarsely tuberculate with longitudinal rows of shallow pits; caruncle absent or punctiform, 0.1–0.2 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. |
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Cyathia | peduncle 1–5 mm. |
in usually terminal, rarely axillary, dichasia, distal dichasial bracts often white; peduncle 0.4–4.5 mm (to 15 mm at first node of inflorescence), glabrous. |
Euphorbia oblongata |
Euphorbia graminea |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. | Flowering and fruiting year-round. |
Habitat | Waste areas, disturbed sites, roadsides, fields, pastures. | Disturbed, weedy, or urban areas. |
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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AR; CA; FL; LA; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America [Introduced in North America; introduced also in West Indies, Asia, Pacific Islands]
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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.) |
Euphorbia graminea occurs natively from northern South America to northern Mexico. The species is a variable and taxonomically complex entity whose boundaries are not well defined and are in need of further study. Euphorbia graminea is often weedy and has recently become established in warmer areas of the southern United States, where it will likely become more common in the future. In recent years, a cultivar of E. graminea has found considerable horticultural success and is marketed under the trade name "Diamond Frost." (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 305. | FNA vol. 12, p. 246. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Tithymalus oblongatus | |
Name authority | Grisebach: Spic. Fl. Rumel. 1: 136. (1843) | Jacquin: Select. Stirp. Amer. Hist., 151. (1763) |
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