Euphorbia oblongata |
Euphorbia purpurea |
|
---|---|---|
Balkan spurge, egg-leaf spurge, oblong spurge |
Darlington's glade spurge, glade or Darlington's glade spurge |
|
Habit | Herbs, perennial, with woody taproot. | Herbs, perennial, with thick rootstock. |
Stems | erect, unbranched or densely branching, 80 cm, often densely villous (especially young stems and pleiochasial branches). |
erect, unbranched, 70–100(–130) 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. |
petiole 0–2 mm; blade lance-oblong to oblanceolate-oblong, 50–100 × 13–30 mm, base attenuate to cuneate, margins entire, apex usually acute, sometimes obtuse to rounded, minutely apiculate, abaxial surface glabrate to sparsely pilose, adaxial surface glabrous; venation pinnate, midvein prominent. |
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. |
narrowly campanulate, 2.1–3 × 3–4.2 mm, glabrous; glands 5, elliptic to slightly reniform, 1–1.2 × 1.5–2.1 mm; horns absent. |
Staminate flowers | 15–40. |
10–15. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 1.5–2 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary glabrous; styles 3–3.5 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. |
globose, 4.5–5.2 × 6–6.8 mm, 3-lobed; cocci rounded, verrucose, sometimes minutely so, glabrous; columella 4–4.8 mm. |
Seeds | brown, ovoid, 2.4–2.6 × 1.3–2 mm, smooth, caruncle reniform, 0.2–0.3 × 0.8–0.9 mm. |
mottled silver-brown, ovoid-globose, 3–4 × 2.5–3.5 mm, smooth; caruncle subconic, reniform, 0.8–1.1 × 1.4–1.6 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 3–6, each unbranched or 1–2 times 2-branched, occasionally appearing pendent; pleiochasial bracts lance-ovate, shorter than distal leaves; dichasial bracts distinct, cordate-deltate to reniform, base subcordate, margins entire, apex rounded; axillary cymose branches 0–10. |
Cyathia | peduncle 1–5 mm. |
peduncle 0–1 mm. |
Euphorbia oblongata |
Euphorbia purpurea |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. |
Habitat | Waste areas, disturbed sites, roadsides, fields, pastures. | Dry to moist forests and slopes, rock outcrops, swamps or seeps, especially over calcareous rocks. |
Elevation | 30–900 m. (100–3000 ft.) | 50–1100 m. (200–3600 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; OR; WA; s Europe [Introduced in North America]
|
DE; MD; NC; NJ; OH; PA; VA; WV |
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 purpurea is primarily an eastern Appalachian forest species, but it also occurs in Adams, Highland, and Pike counties in southern Ohio. It is listed as endangered by Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and is in the Center for Plant Conservation's National Collection of Endangered Plants. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 305. | FNA vol. 12, p. 308. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Tithymalus oblongatus | Agaloma purpurea, Galarhoeus darlingtonii |
Name authority | Grisebach: Spic. Fl. Rumel. 1: 136. (1843) | (Rafinesque) Fernald: Rhodora 34: 25. (1932) |
Web links |
|