Euphorbia oblongata |
Euphorbia nephradenia |
|
---|---|---|
Balkan spurge, egg-leaf spurge, oblong spurge |
Paria spurge, Utah spurge |
|
Habit | Herbs, perennial, with woody taproot. | Herbs, annual, with slender little-branched taproot. |
Stems | erect, unbranched or densely branching, 80 cm, often densely villous (especially young stems and pleiochasial branches). |
erect to ascending, branched, dichotomous distally and slightly angled, 4–25 cm, glabrous or sparsely strigillose. |
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 0.1–0.2 mm; petiole 2–6 mm, glabrous or sparsely strigillose; blade usually linear- to narrowly-elliptic, occasionally ovate to obovate, 14–42 × 3–10 mm, progressively narrower distally, base attenuate, margins entire, apex usually acute, rarely obtuse, surfaces glabrous or sparsely strigillose; venation inconspicuous. |
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, 1–1.1 × 1.2–1.4 mm, strigillose at least toward apex; glands 5, green-yellow, oblong, 0.4–0.6 × 0.7–1 mm; appendages whitish to yellow-green, lunate to broadly ovate, 0.2–0.5 × 0.7–1.1 mm, entire or slightly crenulate. |
Staminate flowers | 15–40. |
25–30. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 1.5–2 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.7–1 mm, 2-fid at apex. |
Capsules | globose, 3–4.5 × 3–4.5 mm, slightly 3-lobed; cocci rounded, verrucose-tuberculate, glabrous; columella 2.5–3.3 mm. |
oblate to subglobose, 2.9–3.2 × 3.2–3.4 mm, glabrous; columella 2.8–3.1 mm. |
Seeds | brown, ovoid, 2.4–2.6 × 1.3–2 mm, smooth, caruncle reniform, 0.2–0.3 × 0.8–0.9 mm. |
light gray to whitish, oblong-ovoid, rounded in cross section, 2.3–2.6 × 1.3–1.5 mm, dimpled and rugulose; caruncle absent. |
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 at distal bifurcations of stems; peduncle 0.6–2.4 mm, glabrous or strigillose. |
Euphorbia oblongata |
Euphorbia nephradenia |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. | Flowering and fruiting spring–summer. |
Habitat | Waste areas, disturbed sites, roadsides, fields, pastures. | Saltbush, blackbrush, Ephedra-dominated scrub and desert communities. |
Elevation | 30–900 m. (100–3000 ft.) | 1100–1500 m. (3600–4900 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; OR; WA; s Europe [Introduced in North America]
|
CO; UT |
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 nephradenia is the only species of the genus endemic to the Colorado Plateau of Utah and adjacent Colorado. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 305. | FNA vol. 12, p. 249. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Tithymalus oblongatus | |
Name authority | Grisebach: Spic. Fl. Rumel. 1: 136. (1843) | Barneby: Leafl. W. Bot. 10: 314. (1966) |
Web links |
|