Euphorbia oblongata |
Euphorbia meganaesos |
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Balkan spurge, egg-leaf spurge, oblong 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). |
prostrate to ascending, drooping at tips, 15–30 cm, glabrous. |
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 distinct, divided nearly to base into linear-filiform segments, 1–2 mm, glabrous; petiole 0.5–1.3 mm, glabrous; blade narrowly oblong to oblong-obovate, often ± falcate, 5–16 × 1–4.5 mm, base subsymmetric to strongly oblique, margins sparsely spinulose-serrulate, apex rounded or broadly acute, abaxial surface pale grayish green, adaxial surface sometimes with reddish streak along midvein, both surfaces not papillate, glabrous; 3–5-veined at base. |
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, 0.7–0.9 × 0.4–0.6 mm, glabrous; glands 4, green to yellow-green, subequal, oblong, 0.1–0.2 × 0.2–0.3 mm; appendages white to reddish tinged, lunate to oblong, 0.1–0.3 × 0.3–0.5 mm (2 ± 2 times longer than other 2), entire or coarsely toothed. |
Staminate flowers | 15–40. |
2–5. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 1.5–2 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.2–0.3 mm, 2-fid at apex to nearly 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. |
ovoid, cocci not elongated nor terminating in empty portion, 1.5 × 1.7 mm, glabrous; columella 1.3 mm. |
Seeds | brown, ovoid, 2.4–2.6 × 1.3–2 mm, smooth, caruncle reniform, 0.2–0.3 × 0.8–0.9 mm. |
reddish brown to brown, pyramidal to oblong-ovoid, weakly 4-angled in cross section, 0.9–1 × 0.7 mm, minutely beaded, with 3–4 broad, rounded, transverse ridges that do not interrupt abaxial keel. |
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. |
solitary at distal nodes or on congested, axillary branches; peduncle 0.1–0.4 mm. |
Euphorbia oblongata |
Euphorbia meganaesos |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. | Flowering and fruiting late spring–late summer. |
Habitat | Waste areas, disturbed sites, roadsides, fields, pastures. | Sandy beaches, edges of marshes, coastal prairies, roadsides. |
Elevation | 30–900 m. (100–3000 ft.) | 0–10 m. (0–0 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; OR; WA; s Europe [Introduced in North America]
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LA; TX |
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 meganaesos is known only from coastal areas of southern Louisiana and adjacent Texas. This species was often considered conspecific with E. maculata in the past, but it differs from that species in being entirely glabrous. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 305. | FNA vol. 12, p. 276. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Tithymalus oblongatus | |
Name authority | Grisebach: Spic. Fl. Rumel. 1: 136. (1843) | Featherman: Rep. (Annual) Board Supervisors Louisiana State Seminary Learning Military Acad. 1870: 71, 105. (1871) |
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