Euphorbia oblongata |
Euphorbia hyssopifolia |
|
---|---|---|
Balkan spurge, egg-leaf spurge, oblong spurge |
hyssopleaf sandmat |
|
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 to ascending, 80 cm, sparsely to densely pilose or pilose-crinkled proximally, usually glabrous distally. |
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. |
opposite; stipules usually connate, irregularly lacerate, 0.5–1 mm, usually glabrous, occasionally with few marginal hairs; petiole 1–2 mm, glabrous; blade lanceolate to oblong or falcate, 8–35 × 7–15 mm, base asymmetric, rounded, margins serrulate, apex broadly acute, abaxial surface glabrous or sparsely pilose toward base, adaxial surface glabrous; palmately veined at base, pinnate distally. |
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. |
obconic, 0.9–1.1 × 0.7–0.9 mm, glabrous; glands 4(–5) (5th gland without appendage), yellow-green to maroon, elliptic to circular, 0.1–0.2 × 0.1–0.3 mm; appendages spreading, usually white or turning reddish with age, short reniform or semilunate, 0.1–0.3 × 0.2–0.6 mm, distal margin entire or slightly undulate to crenate. |
Staminate flowers | 15–40. |
4–15. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 1.5–2 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.5–0.9 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
Capsules | globose, 3–4.5 × 3–4.5 mm, slightly 3-lobed; cocci rounded, verrucose-tuberculate, glabrous; columella 2.5–3.3 mm. |
depressed-ovoid, 1.5–1.6 × 1.7–1.8 mm, glabrous; columella 1.5–2 mm. |
Seeds | brown, ovoid, 2.4–2.6 × 1.3–2 mm, smooth, caruncle reniform, 0.2–0.3 × 0.8–0.9 mm. |
brown to grayish white, ovoid, slightly 4-angled in cross section, abaxial faces convex, adaxial faces slightly concave to slightly convex, 1–1.4 × 0.7–1.1 mm, with 2–3 prominent transverse ridges that do not interrupt adaxial keel, or coarsely and inconspicuously pitted-reticulate. |
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. |
|
Cyathia | peduncle 1–5 mm. |
solitary or in small, cymose clusters occasionally with bractlike leaves at distal nodes or on congested, axillary branches; peduncle 0.5–2.5 mm. |
2n | = 12, 14. |
|
Euphorbia oblongata |
Euphorbia hyssopifolia |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. | Flowering and fruiting late spring–early fall. |
Habitat | Waste areas, disturbed sites, roadsides, fields, pastures. | Disturbed areas, ditches, gardens. |
Elevation | 30–900 m. (100–3000 ft.) | 0–1500 m. (0–4900 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; OR; WA; s Europe [Introduced in North America]
|
AL; AZ; FL; GA; LA; MS; NM; SC; TX; UT; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in tropical Asia, Africa, Australia]
|
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 hyssopifolia is native to the New World tropics and is probably also native to parts of the southern United States. However, at least some of the records from the flora area appear to be from adventive plants. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 305. | FNA vol. 12, p. 272. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Tithymalus oblongatus | Chamaesyce hyssopifolia, E. jonesii, E. stenomeres |
Name authority | Grisebach: Spic. Fl. Rumel. 1: 136. (1843) | Linnaeus: Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 2: 1048. (1759) |
Web links |
|